5,000 US Troops to Colombia? Officials Won’t Rule It Out

Colombia FM says they 'don't know' about plans

Monday’s written note by John Bolton reading “5,000 troops to Colombia” is very much on the table, according to the Trump Administration. Officials are quick to insist that all options are on the table, and that must be too.

Pentagon officials refused to rule out this major deployment to South America. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan saying that he hadn’t specifically discussed the idea with John Bolton. Bolton says he wouldn’t rule out such a move.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) speculated that Bolton was “sending a message” to Venezuela with the note. The message apparently was intended to be above and beyond the repeated US threats of military action already.

The one nation that’s apparently completely out of the loop on this is Colombia, as their foreign minister says he has no idea what the note “5,000 troops to Colombia” could mean, while saying Colombia would continue to support the demands for new elections in Venezuela, which is what the US is demanding.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.