Colombia vote

Colombia: US military aid

Washington Office issues Action Alert for coming vote on military aid to Colombia

[11-1-02]

The paper includes lots of helpful background information for those who want to communicate effectively with their legislators in Washington.

October 23, 2002

COLOMBIA MILITARY AID SET TO EXPAND WITH LITTLE DEBATE

Written by Elanor Starmer of the Latin America Working Group.

ISSUE: Congress is set to adjourn in mid- to late-October, leaving most of the thirteen spending bills for 2003-including the foreign aid bill-unpassed. Members of Congress will be in their home districts from late October until after elections in November, and may return for a "lame duck" session after the elections to address unfinished business. Alternately, they may pass a "continuing resolution," which would extend the 2002 budget through the beginning of next year, leaving the work of hammering out a 2003 budget to the 108th Congress.

In either case, Congress will find itself with a short time to debate and pass the thirteen spending bills for 2003. Given the timeframe, contentious programs may be written into law with limited debate-including a massive military aid package to the Colombian armed forces that is part of the foreign aid bill. Congress may appropriate as much as $731 million in aid to the Andean region, $500 million of which is mostly military aid for Colombia. This package includes $98 million to train and equip a brigade of the Colombian military to guard an oil pipeline in the northeastern part of the country-an area where reports are frequent of collusion between brutal paramilitary groups and sectors of the Colombian armed forces, and where the indigenous U' wa and rural farmers are caught in the crossfire.

The bill also contains language allowing U.S. military aid and equipment to be used for counter-terrorism efforts as well as counter-drug operations. Critics worry that the expansion of U.S. military mission in Colombia will provoke an escalation of the war, putting civilians at further risk and hampering prospects for a negotiated peace process with rebel groups.

ACTION: Make Colombia an Election Issue!

Because it is possible that the Colombia debate could suffer under the time constraints of the budget process, we need to keep our concerns on the desks of our senators and representatives. Election time provides us with an excellent opportunity to show members of Congress that we are paying attention and that we have grave concerns about the nature of U.S. involvement in Colombia. Now is your chance to help change U.S. policy!

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Call, write, or visit your representative or senators. Tell them why you are concerned about military aid to Colombia, and urge them to use your tax dollars to support programs in Colombia that will work effectively forpeace. Now is a critical moment to be voicing these concerns: the U.S. is about to designate more aid for a military that still collaborates with paramilitary groups, who are on the U.S. terrorist list and commit the majority of civilian killings in Colombia. Moreover, initiatives of the new Colombian president-including the creation of civilian watch groups who provide intelligence information to the army-threaten to pull more civilians into the armed conflict. The current policy also drags the U.S. into a military quagmire without laying the groundwork for peace. Ask your members of Congress to commit to working for a change in policy next year.

Go to town meetings, election events, or any forum where candidates will be campaigning. MAKE COLOMBIA AN ELECTION ISSUE by asking questions of the candidates. This is an important way we can help shape the upcoming vote! Grill the candidates on their position on U.S. military aid to Colombia, and make it clear that you will support a candidate who is working to change the current policy. Tell your current representative and senators that you have been monitoring their voting record on Colombia, and will consider it when you go to the voting booth; if they've voted to support the military aid package in the past, ask them for a commitment to push for a change in policy next year.

Capitol switchboard: 202/224-3121. They will connect you with your congressional offices. To locate your member of Congress, go to www.house.gov/writerep and enter your zip code.

TALKING POINTS:

Do we want to be supporting another war? Anti-terrorism efforts are taking place worldwide, and the U.S. is considering going to war with Iraq. Do we want to expand our military involvement in Colombia at this moment?

Escalating the war in Colombia is not going to help protect civilians. U.S. military aid at this point will not be enough to end the war in Colombia. Instead, it will act like fuel on a fire, increasing the violence against Colombian civilians by all armed actors. Moreover, the Colombian military continues to work closely with brutal paramilitary groups, who are on the U.S. terrorist list and commit the majority of civilian killings in Colombia each year. It makes no sense to send anti-terrorism aid to a military that collaborates with a terrorist group.

Sending military aid to Colombia brings the U.S. into another Vietnam quagmire. This civil war has been going on for 40 years with thousands of civilians dead. Colombia is 53 times the size of El Salvador, where U.S. counterinsurgency efforts in the 1980s cost $6 billion and 70,000 Salvadoran civilians lost their lives. The amount of money necessary to defeat the FARC is incalculable. A negotiated solution is the only way out of this conflict.

Real Solutions. U.S. support for a negotiated peace process, and real pressure on the Colombian government to break ties with the paramilitaries, will go much further at protecting civilians than an escalated war will. Alternative development programs for farmers growing drug crops can help cut revenues to the armed groups. And support for judicial reforms encourages the rule of law and combats corruption.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY POLICIES

The 213th General Assembly:

	Calls for demilitarizing U.S. anti-drug policies in foreign countries, in particular Colombia.
	Deplores the rapid growth of armed paramilitary and guerilla groups in Colombia's countryside who support themselves through complicity in the drug trade and exercise domination of the people through terror.
	Decries the record of widespread abuse of human rights by the Colombian military and their documented ties with violent paramilitary groups; and declares it morally repugnant for the U.S. and its allies to grant large amounts of aid to a military with Colombia's grievous human rights record while waiving the obligation of the Colombian government to meet acceptable standards of human rights, as a condition of continued aid.

The General Assembly directs the Stated Clerk to:

	Write to the President of the United States and to all members of Congress informing them of the above statement and urging them to seek an end to human rights violations in Colombia, to support the granting of humanitarian aid to the people of Colombia, and to oppose future grants of military aid to Colombia.
	Write to the congregations of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to: Urge their members to write to their congressional delegations asking them for their support in seeking an end to human rights violations in Colombia, for their support for grants of humanitarian aid to the people of Colombia, and for their opposition to future grants of military aid to Colombia. (Minutes, 2001, Part I, p. 471)

For more information, contact: Catherine Gordon, PC(U.S.A.) Washington Office, 110 Maryland Avenue, NE #104, Washington, DC 20002. 202-543-1126, fax 202-543-7755. Email cgordon@ctr.pcusa.org

Learn more - and gain a stronger voice! - by joining the Witherspoon/Peace Fellowship delegation to Colombia,
March 17-29, 2003.