Colombia downplays report of CIA covert program


Save Story
Leer en espaƱol

Estimated read time: Less than a minute

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Colombia's government is downplaying a newspaper report that a covert CIA program helped it kill two dozen rebel leaders.

Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon said on Monday that cooperation with the US intelligence and special forces has been going on for some time and is widely recognized as having been instrumental in helping break the backs of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

The Washington Post on Sunday detailed features of a CIA program that boosted Colombia's ability to eavesdrop on FARC communications and transform regular munitions into GPS-guided "smart bombs" that were used against high-priority FARC targets.

The multibillion-dollar CIA program was funded secretly and separately from $9 billion in mostly military aid that the U.S. has provided to Colombia over the past decade.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Most recent World stories

Related topics

World
Associated Press

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast