Quote:
Originally Posted by Stan187
The United States does supply military aid to Columbia, about $300 million of it annually.
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Yes . . . and No . . .
The vast majority of US aid to Colombia is supplied through the "Andean Counterdrug Initiative", which by mandate is targeted purely on counter-drug initiatives (funding helicopters, small arms, training, uniforms, and so forth).
Less than $90 million in military aid was made available in 2007, for example, through the Foreign Military Financing program, to buy other military hardware for the Colombian armed forces. To make the procurement of a squadron of F-16s realistic, for example, the US would need to roughly triple this segment of the Columbian aid package over a period of several years.
The website below provides a good summary of US aid to Columbia:
U.S. Aid to Colombia Since 1997: Summary Tables
Also note that not all of this aid is military assistance. Much of it is in the form of economic assistance, or pay-offs to encourage Columbian farmers to grow other, non-drug related crops.
As for the possible future sale of American jet fighters to Columbia, it could very well happen. The US is also growing more anxious regarding the intentions of Venezuela's government. I just don't see it happening quite yet.