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spookwork, iran, FARC, meat
Colombian Deal Halted
U.S. Pressured
Bogota to Stop
Iranian-Funded Meat
Plant
By Sue Lackey
Special to ABCNEWS.com
Jan. 6 � Under direct pressure from
U.S. congressional and military
emissaries, the Colombian
government appears to have backed
off its initial support of an Iranian
investment project in rebel-held
territory.
The project
called for a $5
million Iranian
investment in a
meat-packing plant
to be located in the
Colombian village
of San Vicente del
Caguan �
headquarters of the
leftist
Revolutionary
Armed Forces of
Colombia, known
by its Spanish
initials FARC,
which has been
battling the
Colombian
government.
While Iranian officials maintain the
project was simply an investment in the
local economy, U.S. intelligence sources
feared it would be used as a cover for a
terrorist-training operation.
Senator: �We Have Warned
Them�
An agreement to support the project was
signed by Iranian representatives and Victor
Ricardo, Colombia�s high commissioner for
peace, in October � just weeks after U.S.
drug czar Barry McCaffery requested $1.5
billion in emergency aid for the Colombian
government. Much of the current U.S. aid to
Colombia supports counter-narcotics
training, and ever-increasing intelligence
efforts directed at FARC-held territory
surrounding San Vicente.
Fearing that Iranian involvement in the
region might jeopardize the aid package,
congressional emissaries met
representatives of the Colombian
government and pressured them to distance
themselves from the project, according to
U.S. intelligence and congressional sources.
Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert,
R-Ill., today
confirmed to
ABCNEWS.com
that Congress
pressured
Colombia to drop
the deal.
Sen. Paul
Coverdell, former
chairman of the
Senate�s Narcotics
and Terrorism
subcommittee, also
said the
intelligence
sources�
information is
�salient and true.�
The Colombians
�have been advised
by congressional leaders in the Senate and
House that if such an arrangement is
accurate � and there have been denials �
it would be very very bad for ongoing
relations. There have been assurances from
the Colombian government that it won�t
happen,� said Coverdell, R-Ga.
�Those are unofficial at this point, but
the contacts have been very rigorous and
assuring,� he added.
One of the authors of the Colombian aid
package, Coverdell also expressed
confidence that the $1.5 billion bill would
pass.
A staff member at the House Select
Intelligence Committee who asked not to be
identified said the panel was looking into
the matter.
Military Concerned, Too
U.S. intelligence sources said American
military officers also were concerned about
any activities that would affect U.S.
counterinsurgency training operations in
Colombia, and they conveyed their concerns
to the Colombian government.
The village of San Vicente is located in
Caqueta province, approximately 200 miles
southwest of the capital, Bogota, and in the
center of Colombia�s coca-producing
region.
It serves as the makeshift capital of an
area roughly the size of Switzerland, all but
ceded to the rebels by President Andres
Pastrana in an attempt to jump-start peace
talks.
In theory, Colombian rule of law still
applies to the area. In practice, it is
dominated by FARC, and has been for some
time. The Colombian army is forbidden by
the agreement to enter the territory, which
gives FARC free reign to conduct guerilla
training, maintain its lucrative drug trade,
and establish itself as a de facto
government.
A perfect arrangement, say intelligence
sources, for an Iranian alliance with FARC.
A Plausible Explanation
The modern slaughterhouse and
meat-packing facility the Iranians proposed
to finance in the middle of this sparsely
populated rural area, a region totally
lacking in infrastructure that is hundreds of
miles from Colombia�s main
cattle-producing region, is not as outlandish
as it might seem.
�They�ve always wanted a beef-packing
plant there, according to reports,� said a
U.S. Embassy official based in Colombia
who asked not to be identified. �It just
doesn�t make any sense economically if
you�re looking at exports. If it�s local, it
makes a lot more sense.�
The cost of shipping local cattle
hundreds of miles for slaughter is
prohibitive, and investment in the
agricultural economy is desperately needed
in order to provide alternatives to the
lucrative illegal drug trade.
�The region is very underdeveloped, and
needs development and the process of
education,� says Iran�s ambassador to
Colombia, Hossein Shaikh Zeineddin.
�Then [the citizens] can handle their lives
and defend themselves against army groups
and terrorist groups. This is our principle
idea for our involvement here.�
It is also a perfect cover for illicit
operations. Similar factories have been
used as cover by Iran in Romania and
Bosnia, say U.S. intelligence sources, as has
a U.S.-built facility in Peru.
Windowless Buildings, Plenty
of Trucks
A meat-packing plant, featuring large,
windowless buildings and serviced by a
constant stream of trucks � placed in a
region controlled by a guerilla army, where
Colombia�s armed forces are forbidden to
enter � raised too many red flags to be
ignored.
The Iranian-sponsored terrorist group
Hezbollah is already well established in
South America. Major training centers have
been located on the Isla de Margarita off the
coast of Venezuela, in northwest Brazil near
the Colombian border, and in southern
Brazil near its borders with Paraguay and
Argentina.
Terrorists can blend in with established
Lebanese communities, and support
themselves with various illegal activities
including credit card fraud, money
laundering and counterfeiting, says a State
Department counterintelligence expert.
Hezbollah also has a well-established
channel for arms shipments, and FARC has
the cash to spend.
The illegal trade in cocaine has taken
FARC from a peasant army to a financially
viable political entity, increasingly
well-armed and looking to increase its
horizons. Intelligence sources have reported
an increasing flow of small and light arms
to the organization, which has also
reportedly hired foreign advisers.
An alliance with Hezbollah could
facilitate arms purchases and provide
training. With the U.S. cocaine market
saturated, Hezbollah could provide an outlet
for the drug to the emerging markets of
Russia and the Middle East. (See story,
below.)
While the Colombian government
maintains the Iranian involvement in San
Vicente is falling apart over financial
details, the Iranian ambassador blames U.S.
involvement in a trade project he says was
initiated by the mayor of San Vicente.
�We welcomed this initiative,� says
Zeineddin. �The government of Colombia
should support us on this, and they have
been silent. The U.S. media is saying we are
terrorists. America has 70 percent of the
volume of trade in Colombia; maybe it is
not so easy for them to let us have a
percentage.�
Whatever the reasons, U.S. sources say
they now intend to step up
intelligence-gathering in Colombia to try to
learn beforehand of any FARC contacts
with outside terrorist entities.