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