[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Pages 25816-25818]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 25816]]

                           EVENTS IN COLOMBIA

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I am deeply concerned about events in 
Colombia. It is a wonderful nation, one of the oldest continuous 
democracies in Latin America. It is a nation with a wonderful, rich 
heritage, delightful people, a nation that has made significant 
contributions to the stability and well-being in Latin America 
historically. Over the last few decades, we have seen Colombia become a 
nation whose sovereignty, whose very nationhood, is placed in jeopardy 
because of the turmoil that is shredding this marvelous nation and 
wonderful people.
  Earlier this year, Congress considered the administration's $1.3 
billion emergency request to support the program called Plan Colombia. 
I voted for that program, as did a majority of our colleagues in the 
Senate of the United States and the House of Representatives. I said at 
the time of the debate, that while I believed a substantial assistance 
package was absolutely necessary to help address the multiple 
challenges confronting the Colombian people and the Andean region as a 
whole, I would not have allocated the monies among the various programs 
in the exact same way as the administration had proposed, nor would I 
have fashioned the assistance package exactly the same way that the 
Congressional package which was signed into law.
  That is often times the case here. This is not unique. But there were 
those who expressed deep concerns about how the package was put 
together. I happened to have been one of them. But I also thought it 
was so vitally important the United States should take a stand and try 
to do what we could to make a difference in Colombia, not just because 
of the relationship we have with the democratic nation to our south but 
for the very enlightened self-interest of trying to deal with the 
crippling problem of drug addiction and drug abuse in this country. Let 
me explain why, as many of my colleagues and others are already 
familiar.
  I believe we as Americans need to respond to Colombia's difficulties 
because, among other things, Colombia is currently the world's leading 
supplier of cocaine and a major source of heroin. That means the 
difficulties Colombia faces are not simply a Colombian problem; they 
are our problem as well, since these illicit substances end up in the 
United States, in our cities and small towns all across this country.
  Today there are an estimated 14 million drug consumers in the United 
States; 3.6 million of the 14 million are either cocaine or heroin 
addicts. Colombian heroin and cocaine are the substances of choice in 
nearly 80 percent of the total U.S. consumption of these drugs.
  The impact on U.S. communities has been devastating. Every year, 
52,000 Americans lose their lives in drug-related deaths throughout 
this Nation. The numbers are going up, and 80 percent of the product is 
coming from Colombia. This is why we cannot sit idly by and do nothing.
  The economic costs, we are told, of these deaths and drug-related 
illnesses and problems exceed $110 billion a year. That is a sizable 
financial impact.
  The $1.3 billion that we appropriated to help Colombia respond to 
this situation is what was decided would be helpful. That is why I 
supported it, despite, as I mentioned earlier, the difficulties I had 
with it.
  A little history is important to give the American people some idea 
of what the nation of Colombia has been through over the last decade 
and a half or two decades.
  Colombia's current crisis did not just happen overnight. Yet its 
civil society has been ripped apart for decades by the violence and 
corruption which rages in that nation. Colombia has long been 
characterized as having one of the most violent societies in the 
Western Hemisphere. It means historically Colombian civil leaders, 
judges, and politicians have put their lives in jeopardy simply by 
aspiring to positions of leadership and responsibility.
  Over this past weekend, for example, there were press reports that 36 
candidates running for Colombia's municipal elections had been murdered 
by the time of the election. That is just in the last 2 weeks. An 
additional 50 of these candidates for municipal office were kidnaped in 
the nation of Colombia. On a daily basis, judges, prosecutors, human 
rights activists, journalists, and even church officials live in fear 
for their lives.
  That has been the state of Colombian life for far too long. Between 
1988 and 1995, more than 67,000 Colombians were victims of political 
violence in the small nation to our south. Political violence continued 
in the last half of the 1990s. Between 10,000 and 15,000 people have 
lost their lives since 1995, losing between 2,000 and 3,000 people 
annually to this violence.
  Life in Colombia has been made even more difficult as a result of 
additional violence and intimidation by drug traffickers, and these are 
one of the major causes of it. The right wing paramilitaries and left-
wing revolutionary groups are also responsible. High-profile 
assassinations of prominent Colombian officials trying to put an end to 
the drug cartels began more than 20 years ago with the 1984 murder of 
the Minister of Justice, Rodrigo Lara Bonilla.
  In 1985, a year later, terrorists stormed the Palace of Justice in 
Colombia and murdered 11 supreme court justices, gunned down 11 supreme 
court justices who supported the extradition of drug traffickers.
  A year later in 1986, another supreme court justice was murdered by 
drug traffickers, as well as a well-known police captain and prominent 
Colombian journalist who had spoken out against these cartels. These 
narco-terrorists then commenced on a bombing campaign in that nation 
throughout the year on shopping malls, hotels, neighborhood parks, 
killing scores and scores of innocent people and terrorizing the 
general population.
  Before the drug kingpin Pablo Escobar was captured and killed by the 
police in 1993, he had been directly responsible for the murder of more 
than 4,000 Colombians. That was one individual.
  It is rather heartening that despite the deaths that occurred just in 
the last few days and the kidnappings of people who run for public 
office, despite the fears that are pervasive in this society, some 
140,000 people allowed their names to appear on electoral ballots last 
Sunday for various government offices including governors, mayors and 
other municipal posts. It is an act of real courage.
  We are about to have an election in this country, and we think it is 
a tough day if we face a negative ad run by one of our opponents or if 
we get a screen door slammed in our face or someone calls us a name. In 
Colombia, when you run for public office, even at very local levels 
your life is in jeopardy for doing so.
  I express my admiration for the Colombian people and the people of 
great courage who run for public office who try to maintain this 
stability which is critically important.
  In the midst of all of this, there are over a million displaced 
people in Colombia. An estimated 1.5 million Colombians have been 
displaced because of the narco-trafficking wars, and civil conflict 
that has raged in their society. Thousands upon thousands leave 
Colombia, their native country, every single year, many coming to the 
United States, many to Europe and elsewhere to flee the ravaging 
terrorism that is raging throughout their country.
  This is the background for what has occurred over the four decades 
and why I wanted to take a few minutes this afternoon and make a couple 
of suggestions to the incoming new administration, whether it is an 
administration under Vice President Gore and Joe Lieberman or one under 
George Bush and Dick Cheney. It will be important

[[Page 25817]]

as we look at Latin America, that this be one of the dominant and first 
issues to be analyzed and discussed and a new formulation put together 
to help us do a better job in contributing to the solution of this 
problem.
  In 1994, it became clear that drug money had penetrated even the 
highest levels of Colombian society and called into question the 
legitimacy of the Presidential election of Ernesto Samper. Even today 
fear of kidnaping and targeted killings by members of Colombia's drug 
organization has Colombia citizens living in fear for their lives.
  Colombia's tragic situation was very much on my mind when I voted for 
the emergency assistance requested this year. I said at that time that 
I believed it was critically important that we act expeditiously on the 
assistance package because our credibility was at stake with respect to 
responding to a genuine crisis in our own hemisphere, one that was 
directly affecting the lives of our own citizens.
  We also needed to make good on our pledge to come to the aid of 
President Pastrana and the people of Colombia in their hour of crisis, 
a crisis that has profound implications for institutions of democracy 
in Colombia and throughout this hemisphere.
  No one I know of asserts that things have dramatically turned around 
in Colombia since Congress passed the emergency supplemental package. 
Colombians across the political spectrum struggle each and every day to 
cope with the escalating violence of warring right-wing and left-wing 
paramilitary organizations and the existence of narco-trafficking 
terrorists prepared to coopt all forms of civil society for its own 
financial gains.
  The Colombian economy is in distress with the worst recession in 
modern history causing significant unemployment, hardship among 
Colombia's middle class and its poorest people.
  The economic situation in the countryside is deeply troubling. A 
significant percentage of its rural population is barely able to eke 
out a living, as I mentioned earlier, with more than 1 million rural 
Colombians already displaced from their villages from economic 
necessity or continuing fear of the civil conflict.
  Not surprisingly, these displaced persons have become the innocent 
foot soldiers in the ever-expanding illicit coca production that gets 
processed into cocaine and ultimately finds its way into American 
schools and neighborhoods across this Nation.
  As we have seen over the last several weeks and months, these 
problems have not remained within Colombia's borders, another reason 
why I felt a certain urgency to talk about this subject matter this 
afternoon. The nation of Ecuador has felt the effects of conflict in 
southern Colombia as refugees from the drug war have fled across the 
border into Ecuadorean territory.
  Kidnaping for ransom, a weekly occurrence in Colombia, seems to have 
affected its neighbors. Several weeks ago, 10 foreign nationals working 
for an oil company in Ecuador were abducted into southern Colombia. Two 
hostages were able to escape, but the fate of the remaining eight is 
unknown. Sporadic conflict has occurred in recent days with other 
neighbors.
  A Panamanian village was attacked by members of a paramilitary unit 
and Colombian authorities have lodged complaints about alleged border 
incursions by Venezuelan forces seeking to eradicate illicit crops 
close to the Colombian-Venezuelan border. The Brazilian Government has 
deployed 22,000 troops to the Amazon region in order to strengthen its 
defenses along its 1,000-mile border with Colombia. Sporadic fighting 
between Colombia forces and FARC units--that is the left-wing guerrilla 
forces--have led to unwelcome incursions into Brazilian territory by 
both organizations.
  Narco-traffickers have also begun to exploit the Amazon region of 
Brazil for their own purposes as well.
  The Colombian problem is spreading. It is now reaching the borders of 
its neighbors--Ecuador, Brazil, Venezuela, and Panama. This situation 
must be high on the agenda of this incoming administration and some new 
formulation of how to address this is in desperate need.
  On the assistance front, at the moment the United States is carrying 
the lion's share of responsibility for trying to help Colombia, I 
mentioned the $1.3 billion in emergency aid we adopted this year. That 
has to change. It cannot just be the United States. Colombia's 
requirements are significant and varied, and there are many areas where 
European and regional assistance would be extremely beneficial to the 
Colombian people who are on the front lines of this conflict.
  Innocent men, women, and children are trapped in the middle of 
clashes among guerrilla organizations, drug cartels, and Colombia's 
security and police forces. Government efforts to either protect them 
or create a climate where alternative gainful employment is available 
have been insufficient, to put it mildly. U.S. financial assistance is 
heavily focused on the military component of Colombia's counter 
narcotic efforts, with lesser amounts available for other programs, 
such as alternative development programs, the protection of human 
rights workers, resettlement of displaced persons, and judicial and 
military reforms.
  The United States should do more to assist Colombia on the economic 
front by moving forward in the remaining days of this Congress--now 
that we are going to have a lame duck session. This Congress should 
extend NAFTA parity to Colombia and other members of the Andean Trade 
Preference Agreement. This would tremendously help Colombia work its 
way out of its current economic recession, by giving a boost to an 
important domestic industry, in creating more jobs for average 
Colombians other than in the coca fields producing cocaine.
  I have enormous respect for the manner in which President Pastrana 
has quickly and so aggressively taken steps to entice Colombia's 
largest guerrilla organizations to come to the negotiating tabling 
following on the heels of his election into office.
  President Pastrana is a courageous leader, one who has personally 
been victimized by these kidnapings I mentioned earlier, someone who 
has shown great courage, great leadership, in trying to bring an end to 
the civil conflict in his country. So I admire him immensely and have 
great respect for the efforts he has made.
  The agenda for these ongoing talks that President Pastrana has 
pursued was intended to cover the waterfront of economic and social 
issues that must be addressed if four decades of civil conflict are to 
be brought to a close in Colombia.
  Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, there has been little 
tangible progress to date in these peace efforts--not because of any 
lack of effort on the part of President Pastrana, I might add.
  I believe Colombia needs more assistance from the international 
community to help it find a formula for jump-starting this peace 
process and dealing with the social and economic problems in the 
country that have produced it.
  I laud the interest and attention given to the peace efforts by the 
United Nations Secretary General, but others in a position to be 
constructive should also become engaged before the process collapses 
entirely.
  Moreover, in the final analysis, it is not going to be possible to 
rid Colombian society of the narco-trafficking cancer while the civil 
conflict is ongoing and a hindrance to building broad-based support for 
Colombia's counter narcotics initiatives. U.S. domestic and 
international support would be more readily sustainable were that the 
case as well.
  The international community, by and large, has given only lip service 
to Colombia's problems and has resisted publicly endorsing Plan 
Colombia or helping with the peace process. If regional or European 
political leaders have suggestions for better ways to go about 
containing illicit drug production in Colombia, and elsewhere, then let 
them speak up.
  I think it is critically important that the Organization of American 
States take a far more active role in assisting with Colombia's current 
crisis, particularly with respect to enhancing regional support. Among 
other things, I

[[Page 25818]]

believe OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria should give serious 
consideration to convening an emergency summit meeting of the region's 
leaders before this year's end. The purpose of this summit would be to 
reach agreement on additional regional steps to ensure that the 
operations in Colombia do not adversely impact others in the region, 
either through increased refugee flows or relocated illicit drug 
operations.
  European governments, particularly those that have expressed concerns 
about the social and political fallout of Plan Colombia and the ongoing 
civil conflict, need to do far more than simply wring their hands. 
Civil society needs to be strengthened in Colombia in order to ensure 
that every Colombian's rights are protected.
  Additional judicial and military reforms must be implemented in order 
for the rule of law to become the norm and military impunity to cease 
once and for all. Economic investments, especially in alternative 
development programs, must be forthcoming if peasants who currently 
depend on coca cultivation to feed their families are to have 
meaningful alternative employment. All of these areas are well within 
the financial resources and expertise of our European allies to 
undertake, if they are truly concerned about the future of Colombia.
  For their part, Colombian authorities must undertake a sustained and 
serious dialog with local mayors, church officials, civic leaders, and 
affected communities throughout Colombia to hear from them their 
concerns and fears about aspects of Plan Colombia that may result in 
thousands more displaced Colombians, particularly in the rural areas of 
that nation.
  While aerial eradication of cocoa crops seems the most effective 
method for attacking illicit production at the source, authorities 
should also be open to at least considering the possibility of funding 
other methods of eradication, such as manual eradication utilizing 
local farmer organizations.
  Mr. President, to sum up, what I am calling for is a major 
international commitment to tackle the Colombian crisis. President 
Clinton has determined that Plan Colombia is worthy of U.S. support; 
that is in our national interest to do so--and I believe it is--given 
the impact we are feeling in our own society as a result of the narco-
trafficking that occurs here.
  A bipartisan Congress signed up to that position when it voted to 
appropriate the $1.3 billion in emergency assistance. Having said that, 
I do not believe Plan Colombia can ultimately be successfully 
implemented if only the U.S. and Colombian Governments are 
participants. Unless U.S.-Colombian authorities come to this view 
fairly soon and begin a serious effort to regionalize and 
internationalize this effort, Plan Colombia is going to die on the vine 
for lack of political support.
  Time is running out for the people of Colombia. Frankly, time is 
running short for everyone committed to democracy and democratic values 
in that country. We must not let international reticence or inertia 
allow the drug kingpins to win the day.

                          ____________________