The Colombian civil war. Fighting between government forces and rebels continues, fueled by international drug dealing, oil, graft and an interminable armed struggle for power noted for its barbaric cruelty.
Venality is widespread.
The insurgency in Colombia, financed by hundreds of millions of dollars in drug money, is past the point where it can be defeated by military means. Intense lobbying by U.S. defense contractors, pressure from the White House and a skillful promotional campaign by Colombia's ambassador in Washington, Luis Alberto Moreno, paved the way for passage of the measure, Congressional sources say. Gilman played a key role in supporting active U.S. intervention in the Colombian crisis after he formed a personal alliance with Serrano. Serrano pledged to cover up the key role played in Colombia's booming cocaine traffic by Israeli narcotics dealers, drug-money financiers and gunmen, including Col. Yair Klein, a senior officer of the Mossad, the ministate's intelligence service . Klein was spotted training squads of hit men for Colombian cocaine magnates.