[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 24 (Thursday, March 7, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E303]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED GOVERNMENT OF COLOMBIA 
    AND ITS EFFORTS TO COUNTER THREATS FROM U.S.-DESIGNATED FOREIGN 
                        TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. TAMMY BALDWIN

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 6, 2002

  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H. Res. 358. We are 
all deeply troubled by the ongoing civil war in Colombia. Efforts to 
attain a peace agreement have not been successful so far, but the 
recent setbacks to the peace process do not change the fundamental 
nature of the conflict and should not result in a rush to radically 
revise U.S. policy.
  This conflict did not arise from drug trafficking. It is a forty-
year-old conflict stemming from fundamental economic, political and 
social tensions in Colombia. All parties have been implicated in drug 
trafficking. And all parties have been responsible for serious and 
repeated human rights abuses. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of 
Colombia (known by their Spanish acronym FARC), the United Self-Defense 
Forces of Colombia (AUC), and the National Liberation Army (ELN) have 
all contributed to the murder, kidnapping and extortion now endemic in 
Colombia. This Congress is clearly on record condemning these actions.
  While Congress and the United States have condemned the 
revolutionaries, the paramilitaries and the Colombian government for 
human rights abuses, we have been very careful to avoid becoming 
entangled in the Colombian civil war. As a very large and 
geographically diverse country, military action in Colombia is quite 
difficult and could easily drag our nation into a quagmire like 
Vietnam. We have wisely recognized this risk and have limited military 
assistance to anti-narcotic activities.
  In addition to limiting the use of U.S. military assistance to anti-
drug efforts, Congress has taken numerous steps to try to break the 
links between the Colombian military and the paramilitary forces of the 
AUC. U.S. and Colombian non-governmental organizations have clearly and 
definitively documented significant and ongoing collaboration between 
the paramilitaries and the Colombian military. Paramilitary violence 
has increased even as the record of the Colombian military has 
improved. Most estimates indicated the paramilitaries commit more than 
75% of the non-combatant killings.
  The resolution under consideration by the House states that the 
``Colombian Government has made progress in its efforts to combat and 
capture members of illegal paramilitary organizations and taken 
positive steps to break links between individual members of the 
security forces and such organizations.'' Well, saying it does not make 
it so. This simply isn't the reality. A report last month from Human 
Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International (AI) and the Washington 
Office on Latin America (WOLA) concluded exactly the opposite. Their 
report noted that President Pastrana has ``failed to take effective 
action to establish control over the security forces and break the 
persistent ties to paramilitary groups.'' The report further noted that 
high-ranking officers ``failed to take steps necessary to prevent 
killings by suspending security force members suspected of abuses, 
ensuring that their cases were handed over to civilian judicial 
authorities for investigation and prosecution, and pursuing and 
arresting paramilitary leaders.'' Despite our efforts, we have not seen 
any significant progress.
  As part of the FY02 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, signed by 
the President on January 10, 2002 (Public Law 107-115), the Secretary 
of State must certify that Colombia has met certain human rights 
conditions in order for aid to be released (Section 567). According to 
the HRW, AI and WOLA report, the conditions required for certification 
have not been met. I am very concerned that approval of this resolution 
by the House will be a signal to the Colombian Government and the U.S. 
Secretary of State that we believe these conditions have been met. I do 
not believe that they have been and certification should not take place 
at this time.
  Rushing this resolution to the floor is unnecessary and a mistake. As 
my colleague from Massachusetts, Mr. Delahunt, has said, we need to 
have comprehensive hearings on Colombia. Using the war on terrorism to 
justify leaping into a forty-year-old civil war with little debate or 
consideration is the wrong thing to do. We must step back and evaluate 
our policy toward Colombia. The United States has become embroiled in 
civil wars in the past, and we've come to regret those actions. Let's 
not let that happen with Colombia.

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