Colombia to decide which NATO fighter jets to buy within months, minister says

By Luis Jaime Acosta

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia will decide within months from which NATO country it will purchase fighter jets, new Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said, acknowledging that illegal armed groups have taken advantage of peace efforts to strengthen themselves militarily.

Colombia has been looking to replace its fleet of more than 30-year-old Israeli Kfir planes for more than a decade and is considering U.S.-made F-16s, Sweden's Gripen and France's Rafale, Sanchez said in a Sunday interview.

"This is an issue of sovereignty. We cannot leave Colombia unprotected in this capacity," said Sanchez, a former air force general who left the military to take up his ministerial post.

He would not say how much Colombia will spend on the planes or how many it will buy, but the government said in 2023 it had a $3.65 billion budget to purchase some 16 planes.

Armed groups like the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels, re-armed members of the demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Clan del Golfo crime gang have strengthened militarily and expanded territorially amid peace efforts, including negotiations with the government of President Gustavo Petro, Sanchez said.

Petro, the country's first leftist president, promised to end a six-decade-long conflict that has killed 450,000 people, but with less than 17 months left in office has yet to ink any accords.

Participation in peace talks does not oblige armed groups to stop illegal activities, but Sanchez said continued drug trafficking and illegal mining allowed the groups to increase their fighting power.

"They betrayed the Colombian people, they increased their narco-criminal power and it's necessary to fight it," Sanchez said.

A potential decision by the United States to cut or suspend military aid would negatively impact operations against "the cancer of drug trafficking," Sanchez said, including efforts to combat cocaine production.

Washington for years has been gradually drawing down military aid, but funding from the U.S., including for social programs, still accounts for about $400 million annually.

Colombia had the capacity to produce some 2,664 metric tons of cocaine annually in 2023.

"If we fracture, we give space to the criminals," Sanchez said, referring to U.S.-Colombia relations and funding for anti-narcotics efforts.

(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Bill Berkrot)