With the U.S. Diverted, Colombia Has Begun to Boil

If the United States could, for just one moment, cast its attention away from Iraq, it would discover a serious situation brewing in its own hemisphere.

At this writing, three American citizens working for the U.S. government are hostages in the hands of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, Colombia’s largest rebel group. In all likelihood, it was the same rebel group that last week fired bullets into the heads of a U.S. civilian and a Colombian army sergeant found near the wreckage of a small plane. The two dead men and the three believed kidnapped were flying in an area thick with members of FARC.

This is the first time in Colombia’s 40-year conflict that U.S. citizens on government business have been taken hostage. According to Washington’s vague description, the men were contractors working for the Pentagon. In Colombia, most people refer to them as CIA agents and believe they were gathering intelligence on rebel operations.

Kidnappings barely make news in Colombia anymore. They happen in the thousands every year. But if this particular incident ends in tragedy, the implications could derail President Alvaro Uribe’s efforts to defeat the rebels with U.S. support.

Washington’s involvement in the Colombian war has been steadily increasing over the years. Already Colombia is the third-largest recipient of U.S. aid, after Israel and Egypt. Until last year, U.S. support was legally restricted to the war on drugs. But since Sept. 11, Washington acknowledged the obvious: In Colombia, you cannot separate drug trafficking and insurgency. Drugs finance the war and warriors protect the narcotics industry. The restriction was lifted.

A contingent of 70 Green Berets is in Colombia to train counterinsurgency forces. Congress has limited the U.S. presence to 400 military personnel and 400 contractors. But moves are underway to lift that ceiling.

Uribe and his hard-line approach to the guerrillas remain hugely popular domestically and internationally. His predecessor established a peace process that was frustrated at every step and appeared to give the rebels much more than they were willing to give in return. Uribe decided to play tough. In response, the rebels have unleashed urban terrorism that has left scores of civilians dead, and attempts have been made on his life.

A crucial part of Uribe’s strategy is maximizing help from the U.S. The kidnapping and killing of American citizens open the possibilities of a devastating blow to the plan.

How will the American public react to American blood flowing in Colombia? Will Americans regard Colombia as Somalia or Vietnam? Or will the actions of FARC rebels anger a newly empowered American public, leading to greater commitment to help those “fighting terror” in Colombia?

Most Americans have little time left to think about foreign lands other than Iraq. But when Colombia makes its way to the front pages, last week’s events will prove to have been a milestone.