Argentine civilian pilot Martin Roberto Allen was killed on Mar. 18 when the crop fumigation plane he was flying crashed over a rural area of Montanitas municipality in the southern Colombian department of Caqueta. Allen was employed by the US-based company Dyncorp, which works under contract for the US State Department spraying herbicides over the Colombian jungle with the stated aim of killing such drug crops as coca and opium poppies. The crash is believed to have been an accident; witnesses said the plane collided with a tree, and nothing they saw indicated any kind of attack by leftist rebels present in the area. Allen had been recruited by Dyncorp while living for several years in Fort Patricks, Florida. His death came at a moment when the US government was reportedly pressuring Argentine president Eduardo Duhalde to provide more assistance - such as helicopters and pilot training - for the US war in Colombia [see Update #634]. [Notipaco (news from the Colombian Communist Party) 3/19/02 via colombia.indymedia.org; Clarin (Buenos Aires) 3/20/02] [Allen is the fourth Dyncorp pilot killed in plane crashes in Colombia since January 1997--see Updates #363, 444, 447, 578.]