DATE=2/15/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CONGRESS-COLOMBIA (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-259180
BYLINE=PAULA WOLFSON
DATELINE=CAPITOL HILL
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The Clinton Administration is waging an all-
out campaign for congressional approval of one-point-
six billion dollars in aid for Colombia. The money
will be used to combat narco-trafficking. V-O-A's
Paula Wolfson reports, overall, Congress appears to be
supportive.
TEXT: The President's Drug Policy Director arrived
on Capitol Hill armed with charts and fresh
statistics. Barry McCaffrey told the House
Subcommittee on Drug Policy that the numbers tell the
story.
/// FIRST MCCAFFREY ACT ///
Cocaine production in Colombia has gone up 140
percent in a little less than four years.
/// END ACT ///
Point by point, he made the administration's case for
an enhanced anti-drug effort. He said there have been
dramatic reductions in coca production in Bolivia and
Peru, but the alliance of drug producers and leftist
guerrilla forces in Colombia poses an ever-growing
threat.
/// SECOND MCCAFFREY ACT
///
They have more machine guns than the Colombian
infantry battalions have. They have planes and
helicopters and wire-tap equipment. And they are
assassinating mayors and intimidating
journalists and corrupting public officials
/// END ACT ///
Most of the administration's aid request will buy
information technology and military equipment for the
Colombian armed forces. A few members of the House
panel wondered aloud about the danger of such U-S
involvement.
Hawaii Democrat Patsy Mink said the United States must
move cautiously.
/// MINK ACT ///
We must consider the grave consequences to the
United States of the introduction of increased
numbers of U-S service personnel who may become
the next casualties in the Colombian civil
unrest. Americans have a long-standing
skepticism about intervention in other
countries' civil wars.
/// END ACT ///
Indiana Republican Dan Burton took a different view.
/// BURTON ACT ///
The war in Colombia is our war as well as the
Colombians'. Every year, 14-thousand Americans
die from drugs and drug-related violence. And
those drugs are coming mainly from Colombia.
/// END ACT ///
Republican leaders in Congress have come out in
support of the one-point-six billion-dollar aid
package. But they say the administration waited too
long, and was forced to act by the legislature.
/// REST OPT ///
The White House Drug Policy Director responded to the
criticism by urging lawmakers to put politics aside.
/// THIRD MCCAFFREY ACT ///
I am worried that we not get involved in anemic
political theatre over who lost Colombia.
Nobody lost Colombia, and we are not going to
save it. Thirty-six-million Colombians are.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. McCaffrey plans to go to Colombia next week for a
first hand look at the situation. He will hold many
more meetings with members of Congress when he
returns. (Signed)
NEB/PW/gm
15-Feb-2000 13:08 PM EDT (15-Feb-2000 1808 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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