From: U.S./Colombia Coordinating Office
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COLOMBIA INFOinBRIEF ALERT 3/31/00
Please post and distribute
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HOUSE APPROVES MASSIVE AID PACKAGE FOR COLOMBIAN MILITARY

ACT NOW! CONTACT YOUR SENATORS AND URGE THEM TO OPPOSE MILITARY AID TO
COLOMBIA. SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE TO CONSIDER COLOMBIA PACKAGE,
TUESDAY, APRIL 4.

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 efforts
by Democratic leaders, namely Rep. Obey (D-WI), Rep. Pelosi (D-CA), Rep.
McGovern (D-MA), and Rep. Moakley (D-MA), 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.

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 emergency supplemental bill is scheduled for consideration in the
Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, April 4th and from there it
will move to the Senate floor. Call your senators now and urge them to
oppose all military aid to Colombia. We must also ensure that strong human
rights conditions prevail in the Senate bill. 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.
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T A K E A C T I O N !
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PART 1: CALL YOUR SENATORS 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

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'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.

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T A L K I N G P O I N T S
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+ 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'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.
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HOW TO CONTACT YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS:
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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
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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
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_________________________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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