U.S./Colombia Coordinating Office
<agiffen@igc.org>

COLOMBIA INFOinBRIEF ALERT 4/11/00
Please post and distribute.
____________________________________________________
COLOMBIA AID PACKAGE ON HOLD

SENATE DELAYS DECISION ON AID PACKAGE
AFTER HOUSE APPROVES IT.

CONTACT YOUR SENATORS
AND REPRESENTATIVES AND URGE THEM TO
OPPOSE MILITARY AID TO COLOMBIA.

____________________________________________________

IN THE SENATE:
The Colombia aid package is temporarily "on hold." Due to Senate Republican
leadership's budget concerns, the aid is unlikely to be considered until
the 2001 budget process begins, possibly in mid-May 2000. This is an
important time to contact your Senators and Representatives, as they decide
how to reintroduce the package. (Please note, President Pastrana travels
to Washington DC today to meet with Congress and the press. His visit
could change the timing and allow the package to be considered earlier.)

***For up-to-date info on the U.S. aid package visit the CIP web-page

http://www.ciponline.org/colombia/aid/ ***

IN THE HOUSE:
On Thursday, March 30th, the full House of Representatives approved the
2000 emergency supplemental aid package (HR 3908), which includes $1.7
billion in aid for Colombia (most of it for the military). Despite strong
efforts by some Representatives to cut the money designated for military
aid to Colombia, the supplemental package emerged with the Colombia package
intact and without strong human rights conditions on aid for the Colombian
military.

Call your senators and representatives now and urge them to oppose all
military aid to Colombia. We must also ensure that strong human rights
conditions prevail in the bill, whatever form it takes. However, even with
human rights conditions, the United States will become a major actor in
Colombia's counterinsurgency war if the military aid for Colombia is approved.

OPPOSE MILITARY ASSISTANCE AND SUPPORT FUNDS THAT STRENGTHEN DEMOCRACY AND
ENCOURAGE PEACE!

______________________________________________________
PART 1: CALL YOUR SENATORS
AND REPRESENTATIVES AND ASK THEM TO:
______________________________________________________

1) Oppose the portion of the supplemental aid package that provides
military aid to Colombia;

2) Support positive amendments to the supplemental package that cut, shift
or condition military assistance to Colombia. Amendments are likely to be
offered that:

A. cut or shift funding from military assistance to positive social
investments in Colombia
B. add or shift funds for military assistance to demand reduction,
education and treatment programs in the United States
C. put strong human rights conditions on military assistance.

3) SPEAK-OUT! The more senators that speak out during the debate in the
Senate, the better. Please ask your senators to share their concerns
regarding human rights in Colombia with the Senate during the vote.

_______________________________________________
PART 2: THANK REPRESENTATIVES WHO VOTED TO
CUT MILITARY AID TO COLOMBIA
_______________________________________________

Rep. Obey (D-WI), Rep. Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. McGovern (D-MA), and Rep.
Moakley (D-MA) provided leadership in the House against U.S. military
assistance. Rep. Sawyer (D-OH) offered an amendment to provide $50 million
in assistance for the displaced in Colombia. His amendment was approved
without opposition and is a step forward in addressing this most urgent
concern.

The following representatives voted in favor of an amendment to the
supplemental offered by Rep. Obey (D-WI) to cut $551 million in aid for the
Colombian military from the House version of the package. If your
representative is on this list, please call him/her and thank them for
doing the right thing. If your representative is NOT on the following list,
please call him/her and express your disappointment that they did not
support Obey&rsquo;s amendment, and urge them to oppose military aid to
Colombia in the future.

REPRESENTATIVES WHO VOTED FOR OBEY'S AMENDMENT:
Abercrombie, Ackerman, Allen, Andrews, Archer, Bachus, Baird, Baldacci,
Baldwin, Barrett (WI), Becerra, Bentsen, Bereuter, Berry, Blagojevich,
Blumenauer, Bonior, Boucher, Boyd, Brady (TX), Brown (OH), Camp,
Campbell, Capps, Capuano, Carson, Castle, Chabot, Clayton, Coburn,
Collins, Combest, Conyers, Cook, Costello, Cox, Coyne, Crowley, Davis (IL),
Deal, DeFazio, DeGette, Delahunt, Deutsch, Dickey, Dicks, Dingell, Dixon,
Doggett, Duncan, Ehlers, Engel, Eshoo, Evans, Farr, Filner, Fossella,
Frost, Ganske, Gephardt, Gutierrez, Gutknecht, Hall (OH), Hall (TX),
Hastings (FL), Hefley, Hill (MT), Hilleary, Hilliard, Hinchey, Hoekstra,
Holt, Hooley, Horn, Hoyer, Hulshof, Inslee, Istook, Jackson (IL),
Jackson-Lee (TX), Jenkins, Johnson, E. B., Jones (OH), Kaptur, Kennedy,
Kildee, Kilpatrick, Kind (WI), Kingston, Kleczka, LaFalce, Largent, Leach,
Lee, Levin, Lewis (GA), Lipinski, Lofgren, Lowey, Luther, Manzullo, Markey,
Matsui, McCarthy, (MO), McDermott, McGovern, McInnis, McKinney, McNulty,
Meehan, Meek (FL), Metcalf, Millender-McDonald, Miller, George, Minge,
Mink, Moakley, Moran (KS), Morella, Nadler, Neal, Nethercutt, Oberstar,
Obey, Olver, Owens, Pastor, Paul, Payne, Pelosi, Petri, Phelps, Pitts,
Porter, Price (NC), Ramstad, Rivers, Rodriguez, Roemer, Rohrabacher,
Roybal-Allard, Royce, Rush, Ryan (WI), Sabo, Sanchez, Sanders, Sanford,
Schaffer, Schakowsky, Scott, Sensenbrenner, Serrano, Shadegg, Sherman,
Skelton, Slaughter, Smith (MI), Spratt, Stark, Stearns, Stenholm, Stupak,
Tancredo, Taylor (MS), Thompson (CA), Thornberry, Tiahrt, Tierney, Toomey,
Towns, Udall (CO), Udall (NM), Upton, Velazquez, Vento, Visclosky, Watt
(NC), Waxman, Weiner, Weldon (PA), Wexler, Wicker, Woolsey, Wu, Wynn.
___________________________________________
TALKING POINTS
___________________________________________

+ This aid package will not only pour hundreds of millions of dollars into
the most abusive military in the Western Hemisphere, but it will almost
certainly destabilize fragile peace negotiations and undermine support of a
negotiated settlement.

+To avoid getting the United States more deeply involved with
Colombia&rsquo;s infamous armed forces, I ask you to oppose aid to the
Colombian army due to human rights concerns, especially army links at a
regional and local level to brutal paramilitary forces.

+Instead, I urge you to support a substantial positive aid package for
Colombia, including: humanitarian relief for people displaced by violence;
crop substitution programs for small farmers to switch from coca to legal
crops; economic assistance; programs to strengthen Colombian government
investigations into human rights violations and drug trafficking; aid for
civil society efforts for human rights and peace.

+Finally, because the United States "War on Drugs" is one that must be
fought at home, I ask you to increase funding for drug treatment and
prevention programs here in our own country.
__________________________________________________
HOW TO CONTACT YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS:

Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121
Or look up your members of Congress on the Internet: www.house.gov or
www.senate.gov
__________________________________________________

For more information contact:
Latin America Working Group: (202) 546-7010, lawg@lawg.org
U.S. Colombia/Coordinating Office (202) 232-8090, agiffen@igc.org
________________________END_______________________

 

 

Alison Giffen
Director
U.S./Colombia Coordinating Office
Phone: 202-232-8090
Fax: 202-232-8092
Suite 200 1630 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington D.C. 20009
http://www.igc.org/colhrnet/

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_________________________________________________________
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