Pubdate: Sun, 23 Feb 2003
Source: San Antonio Express-News (TX)
Copyright: 2003 San Antonio Express-News
Contact:  http://www.mysanantonio.com/expressnews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/384
Author: Michael Easterbrook, Associated Press

COLOMBIA REBELS HOLDING TRIO

BOGOTA, Colombia - Leftist rebels acknowledged for the first time
Saturday that they shot down a U.S. plane and are holding hostage
three Americans they accuse of being CIA agents.

The White House sent 150 soldiers to join the search for the
captives.

The Americans were on a U.S. government plane on an intelligence
mission when it crashed Feb. 13. A fourth American and a Colombian
army sergeant were shot and killed at the site.

"We can only guarantee the life and physical integrity of the three
gringo officials in our power if the Colombian army immediately
suspends military operations and overflights in the area," the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, said.

Gen. Jorge Enrique Mora, Colombia's top military commander, rejected
the rebel demand and said the search for the three Americans would
proceed in the mountains and jungles of southern Colombia.

"We have hope that we'll be able to get these three people back safe
and sound," Mora said, adding that Colombian counterdrug troops who've
been trained by American Green Berets and U.S.-donated helicopters
were being used in the search.

President Bush ordered an additional 150 U.S. soldiers to Colombia to
help in the search, Pentagon officials said Saturday. U.S. officials
already have been assisting with intelligence information.

The deployment will bring to more than 400 the number of U.S. troops
in the South American nation, and will deepen Washington's involvement
in the civil war, which has lasted nearly four decades.

The rebels claimed they shot down the aircraft, contrary to assertions
by the U.S. and Colombian governments that the single-engine Cessna
went down because of engine trouble, and said the three Americans were
CIA agents.

The Americans were on an intelligence mission when it crashed,
Colombian Defense Minister Martha Lucia Ramirez has said. U.S. defense
officials deny the Americans worked for the CIA and say the men were
contractors for the Miami-based U.S. Southern Command, which oversees
U.S. military operations in South America and the Caribbean.

The Bush administration demanded Saturday the three Americans be freed
and declared it holds the rebels responsible for their safety.

This marks the first time in more than 20 years that U.S. government
employees have been killed or captured in the conflict, which pits the
FARC and a smaller rebel army against the government and a handful of
outlawed right-wing paramilitary groups. About 3,500 people, mostly
civilians, die in the fighting every year.

The rebels kidnap hundreds of people a year in Colombia for money and
political leverage. The FARC currently is holding about two dozen
politicians and 45 soldiers and police officers, one of whom has been
a hostage for more than five years.

The bodies of the two slain men were found about a mile from the
plane, Carolina Sanchez, spokeswoman for the Colombian attorney
general's office, said Saturday.

The American had been shot in the head while the Colombia was shot
twice in the chest. Autopsy reports showed that the bullets were fired
from a distance of less than 2 yards, Sanchez said.

The rebels' demand specified that the military must halt operations
and overflights in a 387-square mile area of southern Colombia's
Caqueta state.

The 17,000-strong FARC considers U.S. involvement in Colombia an act
of war and has warned that it would attack U.S. citizens and interests
in the country.

Washington has given Colombia about $2 billion in mostly military aid
over three years. The aid initially was limited to fighting drugs, but
the restrictions recently were lifted to let Colombia use the
equipment and U.S.-trained troops to confront the rebels directly.

The U.S. Congress in 2001 limited the number of U.S. troops in
Colombia to 400, but allowed the president to exceed that number for
emergency search and rescue operations.

"We have hope that we'll be able to get these three people back safe
and sound."
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