By Elaine Donnelly
Extending sexual misconduct to combat units
Some say the San Miguel River is a river with eyes: A swimming child bolts from the water and disappears into the jungle. A boatman revs his outboard engine. A chain saw grinds to an ear-splitting whine - all potential warnings of illegally armed groups operating in this dense jungle, where a sizable portion of the world's cocaine is produced and shipped.
The U.S. government spent nearly $8 million in 2009 to train and equip Ecuadorean police, military and judiciary members to fight criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking, said Wes Carrington, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Quito, Ecuador.
