[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1591 Introduced in House (IH)]



107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
 
                                H. R. 1591

 To prohibit the United States Government from providing financing for 
nongovernmental organizations or individuals to carry out military, law 
enforcement, armed rescue, or other related operations in the countries 
 of the Andean region, including any operations relating to narcotics 
                            control efforts.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 25, 2001

Ms. Schakowsky introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                  Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 To prohibit the United States Government from providing financing for 
nongovernmental organizations or individuals to carry out military, law 
enforcement, armed rescue, or other related operations in the countries 
 of the Andean region, including any operations relating to narcotics 
                            control efforts.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Andean Region Contractor 
Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Hundreds of civilians, including many United States 
        citizens, are working with the military and police forces of 
        the Republic of Colombia and other countries of the Andean 
        region under contracts between the United States Government and 
        several private corporations. The duties of such individuals 
        include piloting drug-crop fumigation aircraft, flying 
        helicopters transporting army battalions, serving as mechanics 
        and logistics personnel, assisting the reform of the security 
        forces, performing armed search-and-rescue missions, and 
        gathering aerial intelligence, among others.
            (2) On February 18, 2001, United States contractor 
        personnel on a search-and-rescue mission in the guerrilla-held 
        zone of Curillo, in Colombia's Caqueta region, were involved in 
        an exchange of fire with members of Colombia's FARC guerrilla 
        groups, raising concerns about force protection and proximity 
        to Colombia's conflict.
            (3) According to the Inspector General of the Department of 
        State, three United States contract personnel have died while 
        piloting spray planes over Colombian territory since 1997.
            (4) Contract personnel are being employed in circumstances 
        and locations in Colombia which, for force protection reasons, 
        would generally be off-limits to uniformed United States 
        personnel.
            (5) Increasing use of private contract personnel raises 
        questions of accountability and transparency in the management 
        of United States policy toward Colombia and other countries of 
        the Andean region.
            (6) On April 20, 2001, a plane operated by innocent United 
        States civilians conducting missionary work was shot down in 
        the airspace of the Republic of Peru. The plane was targeted as 
        a result of intelligence sharing between Central Intelligence 
        Agency-contracted private military personnel and Peruvian 
        authorities. As a result, Veronica ``Roni'' Bowers, age 35, and 
        her 7-month old daughter Charity were killed.
            (7) Basic information about the extent of activities of 
        private military contractors in Colombia and in other countries 
        of the Andean region is generally unavailable to the public.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON FINANCING OF PRIVATE MILITARY, LAW ENFORCEMENT, 
              OR ARMED RESCUE OPERATIONS IN ANDEAN REGION COUNTRIES.

    (a) Prohibition.--Notwithstanding chapter 8 of part I of the 
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or any other provision of law, no 
officer or employee of the United States Government may enter into a 
contract or other agreement under which the United States Government 
provides financing, in whole or in part, for a nongovernmental 
organization (including a corporation or other business entity) or 
individual to carry out military, law enforcement, armed rescue, or 
other related operations in the countries of the Andean region, 
including any operations relating to narcotics control efforts.
    (b) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in subsection (a) shall be 
construed to prohibit the financing, in whole or in part, for a 
nongovernmental organization (including a corporation or other business 
entity) or individual to carry out humanitarian activities, including 
the delivery of food, in the countries of the Andean region.

SEC. 4. DEFINITION.

    In this Act, the term ``countries of the Andean region'' means the 
Republic of Bolivia, the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Republic of 
Ecuador, the Republic of Colombia, the Republic of Panama, the Republic 
of Peru, and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
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