Bombing follows aid against drugs

Press, 5 September 1989, Page 8

Bombing follows aid against drugs

NZPA-Reuter Bogota A powerful bomb blast rocked the Colombian drug capital of Medellin yesterday after two C-130 cargo planes, the first part of an emergency United States aid package arrived in Bogota to help fight Colombia’s cocaine war.

The bomb, which exploded shortly before a 10-hour curfew took effect in Itague, a Medellin suburb, badly damaged a state-run bank and an insurance company, the police said. They had no immediate report of injuries.

The domestic news agency, Colprensa, said a plane registered in the United States and believed flown by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration was destroyed in a dynamite attack in Monteria, provincial capital of north-western Cordoba province. The report could not be immediately confirmed with Colombian authorities.

A police spokesman in Monteria, 400 km northwest of Bogota, said only that there had been a minor accident at the airport in which no-one was injured. Spokesmen for the United States Embassy could not be reached for immediate comment.

The two camouflaged C--130 cargo planes, one bearing spare parts for fighter jets, arrived at Bogota’s Catam air force base on Sunday and were handed over to the Colombian military.

The United States Ambassador, Thomas McNamara, said the giant Hercules aircraft — to be followed by eight A-37 jets and five UH-1 Huey helicopters today — would

“enormously help” the anti-narcotics campaign begun two weeks ago after the drug-related murders of a leading presidential candidate, a state police commander and an appeal court judge. The equipment is part of a SNZIIO million emergency aid package announced by the United States President, George Bush, on August 25.

The United States Defence Department has said that up to 100 United States advisers will be sent to help Colombia’s declared war on drugs. In Washington, the United States Defence Secretary, Dick Cheney, said yesterday that United States Forces in Colombia

would not go into combat, but there was no guarantee that the American forces would not come under attack and said “they will be able to defend themselves” if they do.

The White House Chief of Staff, John Sununu, said President Bush would consider a battle role for United States troops in Colombia if asked. The Colombian President, Virgilio Barco, has said no such request will be forthcoming.

The Pentagon has said 10 United States advisers have already arrived in Colombia. Mr McNamara, on hand for the arrival of the C-130s, said he could not confirm the number.