U.S./Colombia Coordinating Office
agiffen@pop2.igc.org
March 9 -- ACT NOW
_________________________________________________________
ACT NOW MARCH 3, 2000 - MARCH 16, 2000
EYES WIDE SHUT: U.S. AID PACKAGE TO ABUSIVE ARMY
FIRST VOTE ON PACKAGE: HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 9
_________________________________________________________
In January, President Clinton introduced an emergency supplemental
aid
package to Colombia. The Administration's $1.3 billion aid package
to
Colombia is a disastrous approach to stemming the drug trade and
ending the
South American nation's brutal armed conflict. This new aid, combined
with
funds already directed toward Colombia, will amount to $1.6 billion
over
the next two years. Over 60% of this package is assistance to
the Colombian
army, widely-recognized as the most abusive military in the Western
hemisphere. This aid will make the United States a major actor
in
Colombia's counterinsurgency war.
________________________________________________________
T I M E T O A C T
________________________________________________________
The proposed U.S. aid package to Colombia is moving quickly
through
Congress. However, grassroots efforts and recent reports linking
Colombian
military and paramilitary forces have initiated debate in Congress.
This
provides grassroots groups working on Colombia a small window
of
opportunity to affect the package.
The Aid package is scheduled to be introduced in an "emergency
supplemental" on MONDAY, MARCH 6 in the House of Representatives.
It will
be voted on by the Appropriations Committee probably on THURSDAY,
MARCH 9.
It will then go to the floor of the House for a vote on MARCH
16 and then
to the Senate.
_______________________________________________________
A C T I O N A C T I O N A C T I O N
_______________________________________________________
CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES AND ASK THEM TO:
1) Oppose military aid to Colombia
2) Support positive amendments that
A. shift assistance from the military assistance to positive
social
investments in Colombia
B. shift funds for military assistance to demand reduction, education
and
treatment programs in the United States
C. include human rights conditionality and monitoring of security
assistance
3) Sign-on to the dear colleague letter that Reps Campbell,
Schakowsky,
Baldwin and Nadler are circulating. The letter asks Appropriations
Committee Chairman C.W. Bill Young not to appropriate additional
funding
for the Colombian military as proposed in Clinton's supplemental
request.
**Check the list of Appropriations Committee members at the
end of this
alert to see if any representatives in your state are on this
committee and
call them now. It is critical to contact these representatives
this week.
**If you don't have a representative on the appropriations
committee, call
your representatives and encourage them to vote the right way
when the bill
comes to the floor. Continue to contact your senators and send
them the
same message.
__________________________________________________
H O W T O C O N T A C T
Y O U R R E P R E S E N T A T I V E
__________________________________________________
U.S. Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121
Web address for email addresses and phone #'s:
http://www.house.gov
_________________________________________________
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'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.
__________________________________________________
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
106TH CONGRESS
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS - MEMBERSHIP
_________________________________________________
C.W. Bill Young, Florida, Chairman
Robert Aderholt, Alabama
Henry Bonilla, Texas
Allen Boyd, Florida
Sonny Callahan, Alabama
Robert E. "Bud" Cramer, Jr., Alabama
Randy "Duke" Cunningham, California
Rosa L. DeLauro, Connecticut
Tom DeLay, Texas
Jay Dickey, Arkansas
Norman D. Dicks, Washington
Julian C. Dixon, California
James W. Dyer, Clerk and Staff Director
Chet Edwards, Texas
Jo Ann Emerson, Missouri
Sam Farr, California
Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, New Jersey
Virgil H. Goode, Jr., Virginia
Kay Granger, Texas
Maurice D. Hinchey, New York
David L. Hobson, Ohio
Steny H. Hoyer, Maryland
Ernest J. Istook, Jr., Oklahoma
Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., Illinois
Marcy Kaptur, Ohio
Carolyn C. Kilpatrick, Michigan
Jack Kingston, Georgia
Joe Knollenberg, Michigan
Jim Kolbe, Arizona
Tom Latham, Iowa
Jerry Lewis, California
Nita M. Lowey, New York
Carrie P. Meek, Florida
Dan Miller, Florida
Alan B. Mollohan, West Virginia
James P. Moran, Virginia
John P. Murtha, Pennsylvania
George R. Nethercutt, Jr., Washington
Anne Northup, Kentucky
David R. Obey, Wisconsin
John W. Olver, Massachusetts
Ron Packard, California
Ed Pastor, Arizona
John E. Peterson, Pennsylvania
Nancy Pelosi, California
John Edward Porter, Illinois
David E. Price, North Carolina
Ralph Regula, Ohio
Lucille Roybal-Allard, California
Harold Rogers, Kentucky
Martin Olav Sabo, Minnesota
José E. Serrano, New York
Joe Skeen, New Mexico
John E. Sununu, New Hampshire
Charles H. Taylor, North Carolina
Todd Tiahrt, Kansas
Peter J. Visclosky, Indiana
James Walsh, New York
Zach Wamp, Tennessee
Roger F. Wicker, Mississippi
Frank R. Wolf, Virginia
____________________________________________
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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