Number	19790
Subject	Military
Source	Los Angeles Times
State	CA
Year	2002
Publication Date	March 17
Summary	The LA Times investigates a 1998 controversial bombing of a Colombian village, in which 18 people were killed. The report finds that U.S. military help played a role in the tragedy. The story refutes the Colombian military's version that the bombing was actually a premature detonation of a car bomb planted by rebels, and finds the prosecutors' charge -- that a Colombian air force helicopter actually dropped the bomb -- to be more credible. Other findings are that U.S. Customs planes, tracking a plane supposedly filled with drugs, helped initiate the bombing; two American companies provided supplies and help to the Colombian military on the day of the operation; the bombing site was under aerial surveillance of a U.S. Coast Guard officer.
Category	Contest Entry
Pages	18
Keywords	FOI;FBI;human rights;drug war;military aid;Alien Tort Claims Act
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