``The generals gave us figures and promises, but we want to see concrete action in dismantling the paramilitary groups,'' said Carlos Salinas, of Amnesty International. ``Sending U.S. military aid to Colombia is the same policy that backed death squadrons in El Salvador in the 1980's.'' 

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton Administration and Congress moved closer on Wednesday to a massive escalation of U.S. military aid to Colombia to fight drug traffickers and narco-guerrillas.

Senior government officials and senators agreed at a hearing that Colombia cannot defeat leftist guerrillas financed by the cocaine trade without U.S. help.

White House Drug Policy director Barry McCaffrey said the administration will send a proposal to Congress by next month to provide between $1 billion and $2 billion in military equipment and other economic assistance to Colombia over three years.

The administration has been reluctant to get involved in a conflict that some analysts see as another Vietnam quagmire, while the Republican-controlled Congress has long been a strong proponent of sending more helicopters and military trainers to Colombia.

Two Republican senators last month proposed legislation that would authorise $1.5 billion in fiscal years 2000-2002 to back Colombia's anti-drug efforts, mainly by equipping and training the military and police.

The bill, authored by senators Paul Coverdell of Georgia and Mike DeWine of Ohio, would provide 15 new Blackhawk helicopters, aerial refueling aircraft, radar and other equipment to intercept traffickers and attack drug plantations in southern Colombia.

``Without U.S. help, Colombia could lose this war --or seek to appease the narco-guerrillas,'' said Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Jesse Helms.

``We must bolster Colombia's security forces --beginning with its counter-drug battalions-- to fight the well-armed narcoterrorists,'' the North Carolina Republican told a hearing on the Colombian crisis.

Colombia produces 80 percent of the world's cocaine and is the source of most of the heroin consumed on the East Coast of the United States. The guerrillas control 40 percent of the countryside and drug production has soared in areas they hold.

Helms said the guerrillas threaten neighbouring nations Venezuela, Ecuador and especially Panama, which has no standing army and where the United States hands over control of the canal at the end of the year.

``We must not idly sit back while this conflict threatens to destabilise the region,'' said Coverdell, whose bill includes funding of anti-drug programmes in Bolivia and Peru.

Coverdell urged the Clinton Administration to immediately submit a plan of action for Colombia to Congress requesting initial funding on an emergency basis.

``All the numbers are in the same ballpark. All the same concerns are on the table,'' McCaffrey said after the hearing.

While a bipartisan consensus has developed on the need to boost aid to Colombia and keep it flowing for three years, getting the money may be difficult due to the spending caps on the next three federal budgets.

``We are involved in some very intensive and painful debates inside the administration to sort out how much is enough,'' said McCaffrey.

The U.S. State Department is working closely with Colombian President Andres Pastrana on a strategy to fight drugs, bring the guerrillas into peace negotiations and rescue Colombia from its worst recession since the 1930s, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Thomas Pickering, told the Senate hearing.

U.S. aid to Colombia jumped from $85.7 million in 1997 to $289 million this year, the third largest recipient after Israel and Egypt.

Colombia's top defence officials arrived in Washington on Tuesday for three days of lobbying for increased military aid.

Armed forces commander Gen. Fernando Tapias, Army commander Gen. Jorge Mora Rangel and Defence Minister Luis Fernando Ramirez met for three hours on Wednesday with human rights groups who are opposed to an escalation of U.S. military aid to Colombia.

The rights advocates left the meeting unconvinced that the Colombian army has cut off support for right-wing paramilitary groups allegedly responsible for massacres of peasants and murders of Colombians favouring peace with the guerrillas.

``The generals gave us figures and promises, but we want to see concrete action in dismantling the paramilitary groups,'' said Carlos Salinas, of Amnesty International.

``Sending U.S. military aid to Colombia is the same policy that backed death squadrons in El Salvador in the 1980's.'' 
 

Back to the index