Two US soldiers have been detained in Colombia on suspicion of smuggling ammunition intended for American-funded drug control programmes to outlawed paramilitary forces, the authorities in Bogota said yesterday.
Barely a month after five US soldiers were caught trying to smuggle 16 kilos (35lb) of cocaine aboard a flight to Texas, the arrests confronted Washington with a new embarrassment - and one that is bound to deepen local criticism that US forces in the country are able to break the law with impunity.
In the latest clash between Colombian law enforcement and US troops, the American pair were arrested during a raid on a house in the central town of Carmen de Apicala. Police seized 32,000 rounds of ammunition.[...]
Colombia's far-right paramilitaries are believed to be heavily involved in cocaine trafficking to fund their campaign against leftist rebels.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez criticized the presence of U.S. troops in Colombia as worrying on Wednesday, calling American involvement in the neighboring country a problem.
Chavez, a staunch critic of a U.S. government he calls "The Empire," made the comment after reading a news report on state television about two American soldiers arrested in Colombia for alleged involvement in a plot to traffic ammunition.
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