The military operation, dubbed "Cabanas 2001," is being sponsored by the U.S. Southern Command. It includes U.S. special operations forces assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and the Special Operations Command-South in Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico. Troops from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay are participating in the operation, while the governments of Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela have sent observers.

The northern Argentine province of Salta where the exercises are occurring happens to be one of the centers of resistance to the government's austerity moves, where workers and peasants have been involved in ongoing protests against wage cuts and attacks on other social gains.

In mid-August eight opposition deputies in the Argentine parliament denounced these military maneuvers as part of a "strategy of aggression aimed at intervening in the internal affairs of Colombia and other Andean nations." They pointed out that the "enemies" that the maneuvers target are "potentially Argentine citizens and residents of our country who mobilize to protest social injustice."

In response to the question of why Salta was chosen as the site for this operation, U.S. general Reno Butler, who is in charge of the special forces of the Southern Command, claimed that one of the main reasons is the excellent weather in the area at this time.

The operation is aimed at simulating the intervention of a UN-type multinational peacekeeping force in the region. Two towns whose people are in conflict are being set up, together with demonstrations and armed patrols to police the area.

A year earlier similar exercises though on a somewhat smaller scale were conducted in the Argentine city of Córdoba.

In another development, a delegation of top U.S. officials led by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman and General Peter Pace, the head of the U.S. army's southern command, visited Bogotá, Colombia, for a couple of days at the end of August to review progress being made in strengthening the Colombian armed forces. The U.S. delegation also includes representatives of the Justice Department, the National Security Council, the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Agency for International Development. According to an EFE news dispatch, thousands of people lined the streets in Bogotá to protest the visit.

Since July 2000 the government of Colombian president Andres Pastrana has so far received nearly $1 billion in military aid from the United States, with hundreds of millions more on its way shortly.

Washington claims the funds are for fighting a war against drugs but they're actually aimed at strengthening the government's hand in its offensive against armed opposition groups, such as the 20,000-strong Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which controls up to 40 percent of the country, and the smaller National Liberation Army.

Over the past year U.S. military aid has provided the Colombian regime with 69 transport helicopters and has funded the training of a crack 3,000-member army brigade. By 2004 the Colombian army is projected to double in size from the 80,000 troops it had on hand in 1998.

In addition an elite 6,000-member Rapid Deployment Force is receiving new equipment and training. Washington has also sent $5 million in aid to create a spying center for the police and military, and $55 million went to "classified intelligence programs," according to George Vickers, director of the Washington Office on Latin America.

"Carrying out operations is now possible," said Gustavo Bell, Colombia's defense minister. "Strategic areas have been retaken that until just a few years ago were considered bastions or mobility corridors for guerrillas."

With the growing strength of the army, comes a bigger role for the rightist paramilitary groups as well. A September 2 New York Times article reported that residents in several villages throughout the province of Arauca "raised questions about the army's tactics. Some said soldiers treated them brusquely or threatened them, telling them the 'head-cutters,' meaning paramilitary gunmen, would be following."  
 
 
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