Security & Strategic Review - May 2004

The Uribe administration has launched `Plan Patriota', a major military offensive aimed at completely eradicating the presence of the Farc guerrillas in the centre and south of the country. Officials have privately said this drive is crucial to the resolution of the war. US military sources, however, have been arguing that victory in the Colombian war, realistically redefined, will not be possible without much greater US involvement - and that of the neighbouring countries.