United States President Barack Obama on Thursday extended assistance for Colombia’s armed forces to intercept aircraft involved in drug trafficking.
According to a statement published on the White House website, Obama authorizes the continuation of the so-called Drug Interdiction Assistance program which aims to help Colombian authorities intercept planes suspected of smuggling drugs out the country.
The memo said Colombia has “appropriate procedures in place to protect against innocent loss of life in the air and on the ground in connection with such interdiction, which shall at a minimum include effective means to identify and warn an aircraft before the use of force is directed against the aircraft.”
According to CNN, it is the seventh straight year that the interdiction assistance has been extended.