Mercenaries in Yemen--the U.S. Connection
Laura Carlsen
Director, Mexico City-based Americas Program of the Center for International Policy; columnist, Foreign Policy in Focus
Latin American mercenaries are leaving the ranks of the national
armies of their countries to fight in the deserts of Yemen, wearing the
uniform of the United Arab Emirates. They have been contracted by
private US companies and in some cases directly by the government of the
Arab country, which, thanks to vast oil reserves, has the second
largest economy of the region.
An article in the New York Times
revealed that 450 Latin American soldiers, among them Colombians,
Panamanians, Salvadorans and Chileans, have been deployed to Yemen. The
mercenaries receive training in the United Arab Emirates before
deployment, in part from U.S. trainers.
