Pubdate: Tue, 05 Feb 2002
Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Copyright: 2002 Associated Press
Author: Ken Guggenheim

BUDGET PROPOSAL WOULD EXPAND COLOMBIAN AID TO INCLUDE OIL PIPELINE PROTECTION

WASHINGTON -- U.S. military aid for Colombia, now limited to fighting 
drugs, would be expanded to include protecting a major oil pipeline under 
President Bush's budget proposal.

The plan announced Monday is raising concerns that the United States will 
be drawn deeper into Colombia's 38-year civil war.

The proposal marks "the first time that the line separating 
counterinsurgency from counterdrug assistance has been crossed in U.S. 
military aid to Colombia," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the 
Senate Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee.

As part of the 2003 budget proposal presented Monday, Bush proposed $731 
million in counternarcotics aid for the Andean region in 2003. The figure 
is identical to what had been proposed for this year, before Congress cut 
it to $625 million.

But this year's proposal includes something new: $98 million to train and 
equip Colombian soldiers so they can protect the Cano-Limon pipeline, which 
is frequently attacked by leftist guerrillas.

In both this year's aid package and the $1.3 billion Plan Colombia package 
in 2000, U.S. military aid to Colombia was limited to fighting drugs.

Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., said lawmakers should scrutinize any attempt 
to expand military assistance.

"This was not what was debated in Congress when Plan Colombia was passed. 
We are getting deeper into this conflict," said Wellstone, who opposed the 
previous Colombian aid proposals.

But a State Department official said the proposal is "entirely consistent 
with existing policy."

Curt Struble, deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere 
affairs, said it is a continuation of U.S. efforts to help the Colombian 
economy.

The attacks on the pipeline put it out of service for 266 days last year, 
hurting both the Colombian economy and the American oil companies that use 
the pipeline.

The distinction between fighting drugs and fighting guerrillas has long 
been murky in Colombia. Guerrillas partially finance their insurgency by 
protecting drug labs and fields of drug crops.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. officials seemed less concerned about the 
distinction as they stressed the need to help Colombia fight terrorism. The 
State Department considers both of the principal guerrilla groups and the 
main right-wing paramilitary organization to be terrorist organizations.

At a news conference Tuesday, human rights groups said the United States 
should not consider new aid while the Colombian military still has not met 
conditions set by Congress for receiving this year's money.

Those conditions require the military to make a greater effort to sever 
ties between soldiers and paramilitaries, who are blamed for most of the 
country's rights abuses.

"Until those conditions are met, it's not good policy to be talking about 
military aid for the future," said Coletta Youngers of the Washington 
Office on Latin America.

Colombia is the world's largest producer of cocaine and the main source of 
the heroin sold in the United States.
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