Pubdate: Mon, 11 Mar 2002
Source: The Post and Courier (SC)
Copyright: 2002 Evening Post Publishing Co.
Contact:   http://www.charleston.net/index.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/567
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/area/Colombia

CHANGING POLICY ON COLOMBIA

Restrictions placed on Black Hawk helicopters and other U.S. military 
equipment supplied to Colombia to eradicate narcotics were based on two 
principal factors. The guerrillas were negotiating with the government and 
President Andres Pastrana argued that they were not involved in the drug trade.

Now, peace negotiations have broken down completely and President Andres 
Pastrana has put an end to the vast safe haven he granted the Revolutionary 
Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC. These factors and his tardy 
acknowledgement that the guerrillas have been working hand in glove with 
the narcotics cartels, using drug revenue to beef up their military 
strength, have completely changed the situation. President Bush now has 
every reason to ask Congress to lift limitations on the use of American 
military equipment and advisers.

Moreover, the FARC has continued to act with such appalling ruthlessness 
that it is impossible to gloss over its use of terror against unarmed 
civilians. Although the FARC, a second left-wing guerrilla army and a 
right-wing organization have all been placed on the State Department's 
terrorist blacklist, it has not been U.S. policy to give this fact marked 
emphasis.

Recently, the bodies of three people - a woman senator, a friend whose 
husband is being held hostage by the guerrillas and their driver - were 
found in a ditch just outside the capital. They were on a mercy mission to 
secure the release of hundreds of hostages held by the guerrillas, but the 
guerrillas showed them no mercy, shooting each individual in the head. Such 
willful murders are characteristic of FARC terror.

President Pastrana responded to a spate of terrorist attacks with an 
appearance on nationwide television to explain: "It's impossible to have a 
soldier guarding every energy tower, every stretch of pipeline, every 
aqueduct and every public building." He also announced that he has asked 
the United States to free up the use of helicopters and military equipment, 
recognizing that the campaign against narcotics cannot be separated from 
the war against the FARC, which used the safe haven to increase the 
production of poppies for heroin and coca for cocaine.

It is an indication of the weakness of the Colombian armed forces that it 
took government troops nine days to reoccupy a strategic township in the 
former safe haven. Simultaneously, a general resigned his post because he 
said he was unable to prevent sabotage. The Associated Press reported that 
12th Brigade commander Gen. Gustavo Porras explained: "The army is good at 
fighting guerrillas, but we don't have the resources to fight against 
terrorism."

Congress appears sympathetic to Colombia's plight. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, 
D-Vt., who has been a fierce critic of the Colombian military for abuse of 
human rights, now believes that Congress should consider widening the 
narcotics focus of U.S. military aid by training combat forces to fight the 
guerrillas. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., the chairman of the intelligence 
committee, says that the guerrillas pose a threat to regional security that 
should be met with direct U.S. support to the Colombian military.

The changed circumstances call for a review of U.S. policy to Colombia. 
However, President Bush is wise to heed the reported advice of Secretary of 
State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to 
approach any widening of U.S. involvement in Colombia with caution, 
particularly in view of the imminence of presidential elections, which are 
set for May 26.
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