Pubdate: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 Source: Northwest Florida Daily News (FL) Copyright: 2001 Northwest Florida Daily News Contact: http://www.nwfdailynews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/313 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/areas/colombia (Colombia clippings) RETHINK COLOMBIA President Bush should consider carefully a letter he has received from 100 top Latin American leaders, including a couple of Nobel laureates and numerous current and former government officials. The 100 leaders urged Mr. Bush to "suspend and reformulate U.S. support for the implementation of Plan Colombia," the aid package under which the United States has provided $1.3 billion to help the Colombian government fight narcotraffickers. Leaders in Colombia and elsewhere fear the plan will not stop traffickers but simply push them into neighboring countries, spreading violence instead of curbing it. The fears are well founded - and should be shared by Americans. Last week, a missionary plane was mistaken for a drug plane and was shot down by a Peruvian fighter. A Michigan woman and her infant daughter were killed. Plan Colombia is another failed Clinton administration initiative that the new administration should review as closely as it has Bill Clinton's last-minute pardons. - --- MAP posted-by: Thunder