Colombia warns House against reducing its U.S. military aid

Source: Associated Press

Friday, June 15, 2007
Colombia warns House against reducing its U.S. military aid
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOGOTA, Colombia

Colombia’s defense minister said yesterday that cocaine production would rise sharply if Democrats in the U.S. Congress proceed with plans to cut military aid to Colombia.

Colombia is the largest recipient of U.S. aid outside the Middle East and Afghanistan, more than $5 billion since 2000. But Democrats in Congress — concerned over the disappointing results of the drug war and allegations of government collaboration with murderous paramilitary groups — want to cut overall aid by about 10 percent.

The House Appropriations Committee is recommending that Congress reduce financial aid to Colombia’s military by $150 million, much of it used to pay for the chemical eradication of coca crops that is the cornerstone of the U.S. counternarcotics strategy here. Another $100 million would be reassigned to economic development and strengthening Colombia’s judicial system.

Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said that the U.S. cuts would have a grave effect on the war on drugs and lead to a rise in cocaine production destined mainly for the United States.





Read more: http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173351650862&path=!nationworld&s=1037645509161

:eyes:

He wants to be a good hombre with doing what's best for all his neighbors.

Why would he do this?

He's very busy with the job his people elected him to do.

They should have loads of cash lying around from all the help they've gotten under the table or off the books from the neocons and their ilk over the decades.

Caracas, Thursday June 14 , 2007
US Congressman: Bush wants FTA with Colombia to curb Chávez

Charles Rangel, a Democratic member of the US House of Representatives, accused Thursday the government of US President George W. Bush of pressing the Congress to pass a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Colombia in order to counter Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

"The Government is lobbying desperately for this agreement," said Rangel, the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. The approval any FTA's between the United States and foreign countries depends on this agency, AFP reported.

"However, whenever I speak to the President, the Treasury Secretary or the Trade Representative, nobody of them would tell me why this agreement is good for the United States," he added during a conference sponsored by The Cato Institute on the US embargo on Cuba held in the Congress.

"All of them say that Colombian President Álvaro Uribe is against Chávez, and, for such reason, the Congress should pass the agreement.
(snip/)

http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/06/14/en_eco_art_us-congressman:-bush_14A885243.shtml

(El Universal is a strong opposition newspaper.)

I say screw Columbia. We need 5 billion here in this damn country, and we need it desperately. And the War on Drugs is just like Iraq. Can't win for losing.

Give us the money, or we will have a surge in coke exports. Give us money or we will hurt you.

I hope Pelosi holds her ground against these thugs.

Colombia warns US aid cut would up cocaine exports
14 Jun 2007 18:57:41 GMT
Source: Reuters

More By Hugh Bronstein

BOGOTA, June 14 (Reuters) - A proposed cut in U.S. aid would hobble Colombia's anti-cocaine efforts and result in tonnes more of the highly addictive drug reaching the United States, Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said on Thursday.

Democrats who control the U.S. Congress say Colombia has not done enough to curb human rights abuses and cut cocaine exports, which run at between 600 and 700 tonnes per year.

They propose cutting $110 million per year in aid supporting the spraying of herbicides on crops used to make cocaine, a move that Santos said would result in "a lot" more of the drug reaching U.S. streets.

"Our preliminary calculations show that we would have to reduce by one-third our coca eradication efforts, which would mean a corresponding increase in cocaine production," Santos said.
(snip/...)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N14200865.htm





Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos.

Paramilitary chief evicted from Venezuela

Venezuelan authorities deported Thursday to Colombia Jerson Álvarez Dueñas, identified as the commander of ultra-rightwing paramilitary front "Águilas Negras" (Black Eagles) and the kingpin of drug and kidnapping cartels operating globally.

Álvarez Dueñas "lived in San Carlos, northeastern Cojedes state, where he used ranches to store drugs, which would be shipped to Europe and North America," Minister of the Interior and Justice told reporters. No further details were provided about his capture.

The deportee, wanted by Interpol, led drug-traffic gangs and other groups involved in bribery and kidnapping, Efe reported.

In addition, Carreño noted, Álvarez Dueñas "became the commander of paramilitary front 'Águilas Negras' following the detention of Rodrigo Tovar, alias Jorge 40, the leader of demobilized Colombia's United Self-Defense (AUC).
(snip/)

http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/06/14/en_pol_art_paramilitary-chief-e_14A885207.shtml

(Venezuelan opposition newspaper)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Google translation from a Venezuelan newspaper:

Deported paramilitary Gerson Alvarez to Colombia
ABN 14/06/2007

Caracas, 14 Jun. ABN. - The Colombian citizen Gerson Alvarez Owners, presumed narcotics trafficker and commander of the paramilitary group Black Eagles, was deported to east Colombia Thursday, therefore the holder informed into the Ministry of the Popular Power for the Inner Relations and Justicia (MIJ), Pedro Carreño.

From the seat of the Direction of the Intelligence services and Prevention (Disip), where Carreño is carried out the first Factory of Formation of Moral Brigadistas and Lights of the MIJ, needed that “the deported citizen, that lived in San Carlos, Cojedes state, used the properties for drug storage and later he sent it to Europe and North America”.
(snip)

He detailed that Alvarez Owners, “with the organized bands that he had in the Venezuelan State, not only worked with the drug trafficking, but also with the cattle rustling, the extorsion and the kidnapping”.
(snip)

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.abn.info.ve/go_news5.php%3Farticulo%3D95058&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=5&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DGers%25C3%25B3n%2B%25C3%2581lvarez%2BDue%25C3%25B1as%2B%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DGGLD,GGLD:2004-37,GGLD:en

Chiquita sued over paramilitary deaths in Colombia
14 Jun 2007 17:30:13 GMT
Source: Reuters

Colombia displacement
More By Jane Sutton

MIAMI, June 14 (Reuters) - Relatives of 22 people killed by Colombian paramilitaries filed a U.S. civil damages lawsuit against the Chiquita banana company, which has admitted paying off violent guerrilla groups, the plaintiffs' lawyers said on Thursday.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a week after a similar suit was filed in Washington on behalf of other victims of the AUC, or United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia.

The Florida lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for families of 22 AUC victims, who lived on Chiquita plantations or in nearby villages in Colombia, plaintiffs' attorney William Wichmann said. The victims died between 1997 and 2004 in the banana-growing region of Uraba in northwestern Colombia.

"They were all murdered, including a teacher, a student and an 8-year-old child who was hit by a stray bullet, but nonetheless was murdered," Wichmann said.

The AUC is accused of carrying out massacres during Colombia's long-running guerrilla war before it began disarming in 2003.

More:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N6E471899.htm