>From: "Jay Moore" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Published on Monday, June 26, 2000 in The Irish Times >Senators Plunge US Into Colombia's Civil War >US intervention in the conflict in Colombia could have disastrous >consequences for the entire Andean region > >by Ana Carrigan > >Potomac fever has overtaken US Latin American policy once again - this time >triggered by the failure of Washington's "drug war" in a presidential >election year, and corporate lobbying by US arms manufacturers and oil men. > >The result: last week's US Senate vote to approve $1.3 billion in new >military aid for Colombia, which will recklessly propel the United States >into the vortex of Colombia's civil war, burying the fragile peace hopes >with frightening implications for the entire Andean region. The vote was >immediately hailed by the US drug czar, Mr Barry McCaffrey, as "a crucial >step . . . that will greatly enhance counter-drug efforts in Colombia". Mr >McCaffrey should know. It was his announcement of "a drug emergency" in >Colombia last summer that pushed the panic button in the Clinton White >House. > >President Clinton commended the Senate vote as showing that the US was >"committed to a democracy and to fighting the drug wars in Colombia, and to >strengthening the oldest democracy in Latin America". > >The vote has still to be reconciled in conference with leaders of the House >of Representatives, who passed an even more generous version of the aid bill >last March. > >The Republican Senate leader, Mr Trent Lott, who destroyed efforts to reduce >funds for the Colombian military and redirect the money to social programmes >and alternative crop development in Colombia, and to drug treatment and >prevention programmes in the US, said: "To those worried about slipping >toward being involved (in Colombia), where better to be involved? . . . This >is a question of standing up for our children, of standing up and fighting >these narco-terrorists in our part of the world, in our neighbourhood, in >our region." When the roll was called last Thursday, the senators voted 95 >to 4 to quadruple current US aid to Colombia. > >Another Republican senator, Mr Slade Gorton, who cast one of the four No >votes, disagreed with Mr Lott, saying: "The capacity of this body for >self-delusion appears to this senator to be unlimited. There has been no >consideration of the consequences, cost and length of involvement." > >The bill, he said, "let's us get into war now and justify it later. Mark my >words, we are on the verge . . . of involvement in a civil war in Latin >America, without the slightest promise that our intervention will be a >success". > >Mr Gorton's efforts to make deep cuts in the package were routed, 79 to 19. > >The bulk of this massive escalation in US aid will go to the Colombian army, >at a rate equivalent to $2 million a day over two years, to finance three >new battalions, trained by US Special Forces, and equipped with American >hardware and a fleet of American combat helicopters. With a minimum >training, 2,800 young Colombian soldiers will go on the offensive against >drugs and insurgents in the remote jungles of one of Colombia's most >neglected and lawless regions, the south-western state of Putumayo. > >Marine Gen Charles Wilhelm, commander-in-chief of US Southern Command, and >the man responsible for overseeing this joint American-Colombian military >strategy, told the Senate last February that the objective is to "push" >thousands of guerrillas out of their jungle bases to facilitate US spray >planes to fly in and eradicate the region's coca crops. Once they have >dispatched the most powerful insurgent force in Latin America, the new >battalions are expected to "secure" a vast and impenetrable jungle area and >"assist Colombia . . . to reassert its sovereignty over its territory and to >curb growing (drug) cultivation". > >In Senate testimony last February, Ambassador Thomas Pickering, State >Department Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, indicated how >this assistance would address Colombia's complex crises: "fighting the drug >trade, fostering peace, increasing the rule of law, improving human rights, >expanding economic development . . . and giving the Colombian people greater >access to the benefits of democratic institutions". >Mr Pickering was Ronald Reagan's ambassador to San Salvador and oversaw the >US's disastrous involvement in the Salvadoran civil war. > >Critics note that his testimony is at odds with realities on the ground. >Putumayo's 600 square miles of jungle and river produce 50 per cent of >Colombia's coca leaves. FARC guerillas dominate the countryside, and >right-wing paramilitaries, with the complicity of local police and army >officers, control the towns. Twothirds of Putumayo's 300,000 inhabitants are >small coca farmers and migrant leaf pickers, and many are refugees, already >displaced by the civil war. > >In implicit anticipation of the human suffering that will result from the >assault on the coca fields, funds have been allocated to assist up to 10,000 >displaced people with emergency relief. However, Ecuador, which shares a >border with Putumayo, has been alerted by the UN High Commissioner for >Refugees to prepare for the arrival of 30,000 people fleeing the US spray >planes. > >Perhaps, most disturbing, is the hermetic silence of US officials in the >face of persistent reports that the paramilitaries are organising to support >the military operation. > >© 2000 ireland.com > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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