Pubdate: Mon, 14 Feb 2000
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2000 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053
Fax: (213) 237-4712
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Forum: http://www.latimes.com/home/discuss/

Explain Colombia Aid

Many of Washington's international relationships are on edge--China and 
Russia to name two--but perhaps none is more important right now than 
Colombia, the caldron of Latin American guerrilla wars and drug production. 
Continuing breakdown of government authority in the hinterlands and the big 
cities raises proper fears of a total breakdown.

The United States cannot afford to stand aside; it also cannot afford a war 
that might suck in U.S. troops.

Last summer, at the prodding of U.S. officials, President Andres Pastrana 
outlined the needs of his government. They added up to $7.5 billon over 
three years.

Colombia would contribute $4.5 billion, and the rest would come from the 
European Union and the United States. This would be a tremendous outlay and 
a price that Washington should examine closely before making a commitment, 
expected soon. The costs of collapse of Pastrana's program would 
reverberate throughout the region.

The White House and congressional Republicans have begun negotiations on a 
package of $1.3 billion, with $955 million in security assistance. Most of 
the funds would go to armaments for Colombian troops, locked in battle with 
the drug lords and their legions west of Bogota and with FARC, a Marxist 
guerrilla remnant from the 1970s and '80s. Those were the decades, 
Washington will remember, when American "trainers" aided Central American 
troops in bitter wars against leftist guerrillas inspired by Fidel Castro. 
The issue now is not ideology; it's drugs, a curse of U.S. cities and 
destabilizer of Latin American governments. The package on the table would 
primarily allow Colombia to refurbish helicopters and/or buy from the 
United States up to 15 Huey and 30 Black Hawk attack helicopters. The 
obvious downside: increased pressure on the drug centers and FARC would 
force them to increase their armories.

It also is right to question whether the balance of the proposed aid is out 
of whack, with too little for building civil institutions and too much for 
complex weaponry. President Clinton must make precisely clear the American 
objectives and risks in bolstering Pastrana's forces.

Expanded fighting in Colombia could easily spill over to Venezuela, a major 
oil producer under the erratic hand of President Hugo Chavez. There should 
be a commitment from the White House that no U.S. military forces will be 
drawn into a civil war, plus a mechanism to ensure that U.S.-trained 
Colombian troops do not engage in human rights violations.

Colombia runs the risk of disintegrating if the insurrections and drug 
cartels cannot be stopped.

Every component of the proposed aid must be examined closely.

In the end, these will be dollars well spent if they are closely monitored 
and help Pastrana succeed, but the White House must make its case. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake