[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 24 (Thursday, March 7, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S1680]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SENATE RESOLUTION 219--EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR THE DEMOCRATICALLY 
ELECTED GOVERNMENT OF COLOMBIA AND ITS EFFORTS TO COUNTER THREATS FROM 
        UNITED STATES-DESIGNATED FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS

  Mr. GRAHAM (for himself, Mr. Helms, Mr. DeWine, and Mr. Torricelli) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 219

       Whereas the democratically elected Government of Colombia, 
     led by President Andres Pastrana, is the legitimate authority 
     in the oldest representative democracy in South America;
       Whereas the Secretary of State, in consultation with the 
     Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury, is 
     required to designate as foreign terrorist organizations 
     those groups whose activities threaten the security of United 
     States nationals or the national security interests of the 
     United States pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration and 
     Nationality Act;
       Whereas the Secretary of State has designated 3 Colombian 
     terrorist groups as foreign terrorist organizations, 
     including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), 
     the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), and the 
     National Liberation Army (ELN);
       Whereas all 3 United States-designated foreign terrorist 
     organizations regularly engage in criminal acts, including 
     murder, kidnapping, and extortion perpetrated against 
     Colombian civilians, government officials, security forces, 
     and against foreign nationals, including United States 
     citizens;
       Whereas the FARC is holding 5 Colombian legislators, a 
     presidential candidate, and Colombian police and army 
     officers and soldiers as hostages and has recently escalated 
     bombings against civilian targets, including a foiled attempt 
     to destroy the city of Bogota's principal water reservoir;
       Whereas, according to the Colombian government, the FARC 
     has received training in terrorist techniques and technology 
     from foreign nationals;
       Whereas, since 1992, United States-designated foreign 
     terrorist organizations in Colombia have committed serious 
     crimes against United States citizens, kidnapping more than 
     50 Americans and murdering at least 10 Americans;
       Whereas the Drug Enforcement Administration believes that 
     members of the FARC and the AUC directly engage in narcotics 
     trafficking;
       Whereas individual members of Colombia's security forces 
     have collaborated with illegal paramilitary organizations by, 
     inter alia, in some instances allowing such organizations to 
     pass through roadblocks, sharing tactical information with 
     such organizations, and providing such organizations with 
     supplies and ammunition;
       Whereas while 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, further steps by the Colombian government 
     are warranted;
       Whereas in 1998, Colombian President Andres Pastrana began 
     exhaustive efforts to negotiate a peace agreement with the 
     FARC and implemented extraordinary confidence-building 
     measures to advance these negotiations, including 
     establishing a 16,000-square-mile safe haven for the FARC;
       Whereas the Government of Colombia has also undertaken 
     substantial efforts to negotiate a peace agreement with the 
     ELN;
       Whereas the United States has consistently supported the 
     Government of Colombia's protracted efforts to negotiate a 
     peace agreement with the FARC and supports the Government of 
     Colombia in its continuing efforts to reach a negotiated 
     agreement with the ELN;
       Whereas the United States would welcome a negotiated, 
     political solution to end the violence in Colombia;
       Whereas, after the FARC hijacked a commercial airplane and 
     took Colombian Senator Jorge Eduardo Gechem Turbay as a 
     hostage into the government-created safe haven, President 
     Pastrana ended his government's sponsorship of the peace 
     negotiations with the FARC and ordered Colombia's security 
     forces to reestablish legitimate governmental control in the 
     safe haven;
       Whereas President Pastrana has received strong expressions 
     of support from foreign governments and international 
     organizations for his decision to end the peace talks and 
     dissolve the FARC's safe haven; and
       Whereas the Government of Colombia's negotiations with the 
     ELN are continuing despite the end of the negotiations with 
     the FARC: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That--
       (1) the Senate--
       (A) expresses its support for the democratically elected 
     Government of Colombia and the Colombian people as they 
     strive to protect their democracy from terrorism and the 
     scourge of illicit narcotics; and
       (B) deplores the continuing criminal terrorist acts of 
     murder, abduction, and extortion carried out by all United 
     States-designated foreign terrorist organizations in Colombia 
     against United States citizens, the civilian population of 
     Colombia, and Colombian authorities; and
       (2) it is the sense of the Senate that the President, 
     without undue delay, should transmit to Congress for its 
     consideration proposed legislation, consistent with United 
     States law regarding the protection of human rights, to 
     assist the Government of Colombia to protect its democracy 
     from United States-designated foreign terrorist organizations 
     and the scourge of illicit narcotics.

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