10th US plane comes down in Colombia

international | anti-capitalism | news report Tuesday September 23, 2003 13:08 by ANNCOL news at anncol dot com

The death of yet another US pilot in Colombia brings the number of US personnel killed recently in the Colombian conflict to 18. It is still unconfirmed whether the latest aircraft crashed by accident or was shot down.

22.09.2003 (By Alfredo Castro, ANNCOL Colombia) US citizen Mario Alvarado was killed on Sunday when the US State Department plane he was flying came down in the region of Catatumbo in Colombia’s Norte de Santander department. Due to the classified nature of his mission in the area, which is a stronghold of leftwing FARC guerrillas, information about whether the aircraft crashed or was shot down by the rebels is still sketchy.

Initial information stated that FARC members had fired on the aircraft though later reports from the region contradicted this and spoke of mechanical failure and bad weather. The US Embassy in Bogotá has refused to comment as they did on August 29th when a US aircraft came down near the town of Santa Rosa, seriously injuring the US pilot.

The latest incident follows on from an April 7th crash in which a US pilot on another State Department aircraft was killed in the southern department of Narino. Three other US personnel were killed on March 25th when an intelligence aircraft that they were aboard crashed in southern Colombia whilst they were searching for three other US intelligence agents who had been captured by the FARC after their own plane had been shot down by the guerrillas on February 7th. A fourth US citizen was also killed in that incident.

The FARC, who still hold the three captured US agents together with a number of Colombian military officers and high-profile politicians, have offered to exchange their detainees for captured guerrillas held in jail. The government of right-wing extremist President Alvaro Uribe has so far rejected the proposal.

Many other US personnel, working for both the State Department and US military, are believed to have died in Colombia in recent years although due to the sensitive nature of their work details of most of the deaths are still classified. Indeed, it is believed that most of those officially listed as working for the US State Department, including the three US citizens currently being held by the FARC, are intelligence agents using State Department cover for clandestine intelligence missions on behalf of the US military or Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Other confirmed US casualties in Colombia in recent years include:

US State Department pilot Eduardo Gil
DEA Agent Edgar Lara Garcia
DEA Agent Jose Lara Garcia
US State Department operative Michael Demons
US Army Captain Jennifer Odom
US Army Captain Jose Santiago
US Army Chief Warrant Officer Thomas Moore
US Army Private First Class Bruce Cluff
US Army Private First Class Ray Kruegar
DEA Agent Frank Arnold Moreno
US State Department pilot Wayne Harley Mulgrew
US State Department pilot Cary Clyde Chestnut
US State Department pilot Robert Ernest Martin