Despite continued human rights abuses. Colombia is now the third largest recipient of U.S. military aid after Israel and Egypt. Direct U.S. military intervention looms on the horizon for this region, which exports more oil to the U.S. than the entire Middle East. President Clinton is giving the nod to a death-squad offensive. These squads work closely with Colombian military and together they are responsible for the deaths of 25,000 people this decade-300,000 since 1945.
Death squads guard petroleum facilities and shipments of cocaine.
The head of these squads, Carlos Castano, is a key player in the Cali Drug Cartel, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Castano took over the direction of the death squads from another CIA asset, Colombian Army General Van Martinez. CIA involvement in Colombia began in the 1950s and grew along with the drug trade. In 1991 the CIA established a Colombian naval intelligence group that became a key part of the death squads' continuing terror campaign against guerrillas and anyone who speaks out for change or peace. Castano proudly takes responsibility for his massacres.