Pubdate: Thu, 22 Jun 2000
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2000 Globe Newspaper Company.
Contact:  P.O. Box 2378, Boston, MA 02107-2378
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Author: John Donnelly, Globe Staff

COLOMBIA AID PACKAGE SET FOR OK

Senate approval accepted for anti-narcotics measure

WASHINGTON - After several months of delay, the Senate yesterday appeared
headed toward approving a scaled-down $934 million version of the Clinton
administration's drug-fighting package for Colombia, a vote that would
ensure a major new US commitment in the Andean nation's long war.

By an 89-11 vote, the Senate first rejected an amendment that would have
taken $225 million earmarked for Colombia's military and put into US
drug-treatment programs, setting the stage for final approval of the funds.
A final vote is scheduled for today.

Under the Senate's plan, the money for Colombia will buy transport
helicopters, train Colombian military, provide regional assistance, and set
up several human rights programs.

White House aides have complained that the Senate's delay on Colombia has
hurt drug-fighting initiatives there. Colombian President Andres Pastrana
first requested the funds late last summer, and the Clinton administration
proposed a $1.3 billion two-year package in January. The House approved a
$1.7 billion plan.

Once it clears the Senate, the measure would go to a conference committee.

The funding for Colombia is part of the Senate's $13.4 billion foreign aid
bill.

Senate supporters said the funds should be released now to help preserve
Colombia's democracy as well as stem the massive flow of cocaine and heroin
to the United States. Colombia is the source of about 80 percent of
America's cocaine and nearly all the heroin in certain US markets, including
New England.

`'This package may not be perfect, but our delay in responding to a
neighbor's call for help is getting too long,'` said Senator Christopher J.
Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat. `'Every day we wait, every day we delay, means
more lives lost, means greater strength for these narco-traffickers.'`

Senator Richard J. Durbin, an Illinois Republican, described how he flew
with the Colombian military last weekend over coca fields in southern
Colombia. `'You could see the plants in every direction, 600 square miles of
coca plants,'` he said.

Nearly all the plants, which are refined into cocaine, would soon be on
their way to the United States. `'It will be sold right here,'` he said.
`'The likelihood you will be robbed or murdered is usually connected to
narcotics... The prisons in America are busting at the seams primarily
because of narcotics.'`

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, who had earlier
held up consideration of the package, called the funding package a `'close
national security interest for our country.'`

But Senator Paul Wellstone, a Minnesota Democrat who offered the amendment
to shift funds into drug treatment, called it a `'scandal'` that the bulk of
funding in the US war on drugs was not put toward helping addicts try to
quit drugs.

`'We have so much evidence that we can treat this addiction and make a huge
difference,'` Wellstone said. `'Instead, we are trying to go the
militarization route... What I am hearing in this debate is this is not
really a question of a war on narcotics, this is a question of basically
saying we've got to support the Colombian military.'`

US and Colombian officials have said the military needs helicopters as well
as specially trained batallions to help fight narco-traffickers in the 40
percent of the country that is not under government control.

The US funding is directed almost solely at the guerrillas fighting the
government, ignoring drug-cultivating areas in north Colombia controlled
mainly by paramilitary forces.

Several human rights reports in the last year have found extensive links
between the military and paramilitary forces. By voice vote, the Senate
yesterday passed an amendment by Senators Patrick J. Leahy, a Vermont
Democrat, and Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican, that conditions payments
under the plan on the Colombian government meeting certain human rights
standards.

The vote was watched closely by a large group of interested parties, from
companies that make military helicopters to human rights groups. `'I think
we are in for a very long war,'` said Sanho Tree, director of the drug
policy project at the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive
think-tank. `'I don't know if we will know what victory looks like two,
three years down the line. I don't know if we will recognize defeat either.'
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MAP posted-by: Don Beck