Washington - The Senate yesterday approved US aid of nearly $1 billion to help the Colombian President, Mr Andres Pastrana, wage war on the illegal drug trade that is fuelling a bloody guerrilla conflict in his country and flooding many US cities with cocaine and heroin.
The aid package totalled $934 million, including hardware, an armada of 60 helicopters and funds for the US military to train counter-narcotics brigades in the Colombian army and national police.
Approval of the measure marked a dramatic heightening of the US military role in Latin America's drug wars, widely seen as a growing threat to US national security. The aid was approved as part of a $13.4 billion foreign operations spending bill, which passed with overwhelming support from Republicans and Democrats in a vote of 95 to 4.