WASHINGTON, April 9 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army is investigating allegations that members of the U.S. military and contractors sexually abused women and girls in Colombia.
The revelation comes just weeks after a U.S. Department of Justice report said Drug Enforcement Administration agents participated in sex parties with prostitutes funded by drug cartels in the South American country.
The new investigation was sparked by a report by Colombian government and the leftist guerrilla group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) that found more than 50 women and girls were raped by U.S. personnel between 2003 and 2007.
The allegations are tied to reported videos taken at the time of the assaults, which were then distributed on the streets as pornography.
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"The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command will, after coordinating with Colombian authorities, initiate an investigation into any credible allegations of sexual assault or criminal acts committed by U.S. soldiers while in that country," CID chief of public affairs, Christopher Grey told Fox News Latino in an email. "We take this issue very seriously and will aggressively pursue all credible allegations."
U.S. military members and contractors have been working in Colombia for years as part of the country's drug enforcement efforts. Grey said there's no record the abuses were reported to local authorities in Colombia, but Adam Isacson, senior associate for regional security policy at the Washington Office on Latin America, told VICE News it's unlikely the U.S. military was unaware of the allegations until now.
"I remember at the time there was a stink because videos were being sold on the street, apparently showing some really horrible pornographic treatment of these young women and girls," Isacson said.
