[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 14765-14766]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



      FOREIGN OPERATIONS, EXPORT FINANCING, AND RELATED PROGRAMS 
                        APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2002

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                               speech of

                           HON. TAMMY BALDWIN

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 24, 2001

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2506) making 
     appropriations for foreign operations, export financing and 
     related programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 
     2002, and for other purposes.

  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the Conyers-
McKinney-Schakowsky Amendment and I urge my colleagues to vote in favor 
of it.
  Last year, this House approved funding for Plan Colombia, ostensibly 
to fight the drug war in Colombia. Now repackaged as the Andean 
Initiative, it is the same failed policy that we have been pursuing for 
the past decade. It will not work because it ignores the fundamental 
realities of the region. It is impossible to stem the flow of illegal 
drugs from Colombia without addressing the civil war, paramilitary 
violence, unequal distribution of wealth and the breakdown of civil 
society.
  Continuing to fund the Andean Initiative will result in more violence 
in Colombia. It will increase the number of displaced people. It will

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allow paramilitary violence to continue. Already this year 
paramilitaries have killed 529 people. It will continue a civil war 
that all military experts agree is hopelessly stalemated. And to the 
degree that it has any impact on eliminating coca production in 
Southern Colombia, it will simply shift that production to other parts 
of Colombia or neighboring countries. Crop substitution and alternative 
development projects, already underfunded in Plan Colombia, have not 
even begun. Because of U.S. funding, fumigation of coca fields has 
begun, leaving these farmers without any source of income. Imagine you 
were a poor farmer in Colombia, what would you do to provide income for 
your family?
  Aerial fumigation may successfully kill coca plants, but it also 
contaminates other food sources. And it certainly creates fear and 
suspicion among the people in eradication areas.
  Mr. Chairman, I believe we can reduce coca production in Colombia and 
the Andean region. However, military helicopters and aerial fumigation 
are never going to solve the problem. These tactics merely escalate the 
conflict and undermine the peace process in Colombia. Until we can move 
beyond the military strategy of Plan Colombia, we will never solve the 
drug problem, nor will we bring peace to Colombia.

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