{"article":{"id":8599,"heading":"House Bill to ban Colombian \"aid\"\/ fumigation-carnage","author":"Latin American Working Group","created":"2001-07-11 14:15:40","modified":"2005-08-15 00:36:22","last_modified":"Mon, 15 Aug 2005 07:36:22","article":"

URGENT Action Alert on Colombian Military Aid and Aerial Spraying Latin America Working Group Colombia Update: June 28, 2001

Dear Friends,

Right now is our best chance for this whole year to affect the next Congressional aid package to Colombia - to cut military aid and suspend aerial spraying of herbicides.

In the House, the bill goes now to the full Appropriations Committee on July 10 and then to the House floor around July 17th. On both these dates, there are likely to be amendments offered to the bill that would cut US military

aid to Colombia and put a brake on fumigation. The Senate Foreign Operations Subcommittee will consider the foreign operations appropriations bill during the third week of July.

Please read below and contact your members of Congress ASAP to let them

know

how they should vote on this issue.

=====================================================

Latin America Working Group Colombia Update: June 28, 2001

Tel: 202\/546-7010

E-mail: estarmer@lawg.org

A Chance to say NO to Colombia Military aid and Fumigation

Please see the bottom of this alert for background information on the

Andean

Regional Initiative, Bush's proposal for counternarcotics aid to the

Andes.

This year, the counternarcotics aid requested by the Bush administration

for

Colombia and the Andean region comes up in the Congress as part of two

of

the regular annual appropriations bills (main budget bills which

designate

money to different areas, such as foreign operations, agriculture, and

energy). The bulk of the aid is included in the Foreign Operations

Appropriations Bill; the rest will be in the defense appropriations

bill,

which has not yet started moving in congress. The Foreign Ops

Appropriations bill started on June 27th in the House Foreign Operations

Subcommittee, where the first draft of the bill was \"marked up\" or

debated

and voted on. The debate during the markup showed that there is

increasing

support for cutting military aid and putting a moratorium on fumigation.

See below for details on the markup.

Update and Urgent Action: House

>From the subcommittee, the bill goes now to the full Appropriations

Committee on July 10 and then to the House floor around July 17th. On

both

these dates, there are likely to be amendments offered to the bill which

would cut US military aid to Colombia and put a brake on fumigation.

Please contact your representative before July 10 if they are on the

Appropriations Committee to tell them to vote YES on amendments to cut

Colombian military aid and YES on amendments to stop or place a

moratorium

on fumigation until serious alternative development programs are ready.

If

you get an indication of how a member will vote, please e-mail

lawg@lawg.org

with a report.

Thank your members who supported these amendments in the markup! On

June

27th, Rep. Rothman (D-NJ) offered an amendment to place a moratorium on

fumigation and Reps. Pelosi (D-CA), Lowey (D-NY) and Jackson (D-IL)

spoke in

favor; Rep. Kingston (R-GA) expressed concerns as well. Rep. Pelosi

offered

an amendment to cut $100 million from military aid to Colombia and spend

it

instead on international tuberculosis programs. Reps. Wicker (R-MS),

Lowey,

and Obey (D-WI) spoke in favor. All of these members should be thanked

by

their constituents. While these amendments were withdrawn and not

brought

to a vote, they served to bring attention to how controversial Colombia

policy has become. Because of the strong debate on these issues in

subcommittee, it is likely that other amendments will be offered by

these

members and others when the bill goes to the full Appropriations

Committee

and the House floor.

House Appropriations Committee members:

Robert B. Aderholt (R-AL)

Henry Bonilla (R-TX)

F. Allen Boyd (D-FL)

Sonny Callahan (R-AL)

James Clyburn (D-SC)

Robert \"Bud\" E. Jr. Cramer (D-AL)

Randy Cunningham (R-CA)

Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)

Tom DeLay (R-TX)

Norman Dicks (D-WA)

John Doolittle (R-CA)

Chet Edwards (D-TX)

Jo Ann H. Emerson (R-MO)

Sam Farr (D-CA)

Chaka Fattah (D-PA)

Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ)

Virgil H. Goode (D-VA)

Kay Granger (R-TX)

Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)

David Hobson (R-OH)

Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD)

Ernest, Jr. Istook (R-OK)

Jesse Jackson (D-IL)

Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)

Partick J. Kennedy (D-RI)

Carolyn C. Kilpatrick (D-MI)

Jack Kingston (R-GA)

Joseph Knollenberg (R-MI)

Jim Kolbe (R-AZ)

Ray LaHood (R-IL)

Tom Latham (R-IA)

Jerry Lewis (R-CA)

Nita M. Lowey (D-NY)

Carrie Meek (D-FL)

Dan Miller (R-FL)

Alan B. Mollohan (D-WV)

James P. Moran (D-VA)

John P. Murtha (D-PA)

George R. Nethercutt (R-WA)

Anne M. Northup (R-KY)

David R. Obey (D-WI)

John W. Olver (D-MA)

Ed Pastor (D-AZ)

Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

John E. Peterson (R-PA)

David E.Price (D-NC)

Ralph Regula (R-OH)

Harold Rogers (R-KY)

Steven R. Rothman (D-NJ)

Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA)

Martin Olav Sabo (D-MN)

Jose Serrano (D-NY)

Joe Skeen (R-NM)

John E. Sununu (R-NH)

John E. Sweeney (R-NY)

Charles H. Taylor (R-NC)

Todd Tiahrt (R-KS)

Peter J. Visclosky (D-IN)

David Vitter (R-LA)

James T. Walsh (R-NY)

Zach Wamp (R-TN)

Roger Wicker (R-MS)

Frank R. Wolf (R-VA)

C.W. Bill Young (R-FL)

If you are not sure who your representative is, go to www.house.gov

Update and Urgent Action: Senate

The Senate Foreign Operations Subcommittee will consider the foreign

operations appropriations bill during the third week of July. Members

of

the subcommittee and the full appropriations committee should hear from

constituents. Please contact both your senators, doing so before July

15 if

they are on the appropriations committee, and tell them your opinion on

US

military aid to Colombia and the fumigation policy.

Senate Appropriations Committee Members:

Democrats:

Robert Byrd (WV)

Daniel Inouye (HI)

Ernest Hollings (SC)

Patrick Leahy (VT)

Tom Harkin (IA)

Barbara Mikulski (MD)

Harry Reid (NV)

Herb Kohl (WI)

Patty Murray (WA)

Byron Dorgan (ND)

Dianne Feinstein (CA)

Richard Durbin (IL)

Republicans:

Ted Stevens (AK)

Thad Cochran (MS)

Arlen Specter (PA)

Pete Domenici (NM)

Christopher Bond (MO)

Mitch McConnell (KY)

Conrad Burns (MT)

Richard Shelby (AL)

Judd Gregg (NH)

Robert Bennett (UT)

Ben Nighthorse Campbell (CO)

Larry Craig (ID)

Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX)

Jon Kyl (AZ)

It is crucial to voice our opinions on current US policy in Colombia and

the

Andean region at each stage in the process. Please spread the word and

contact your senators and representatives as soon as possible! If you

are not sure who your representative is, go to www.senate.gov

Background.

In late March, the Bush Administration announced its plans to continue a

military counter-drug strategy in the Andes with its proposed \"Andean

Regional Initiative\"(ARI). This initiative requests military and social

and

economic aid for Colombia and its neighbors: Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador,

Venezuela, Brazil, and Panama. Most of this aid will come through the

regular foreign operations appropriations bill, but additional aid will

come

through the defense appropriations bill. Together, the aid totals about

$1

billion in military and police assistance and economic and social aid

to

the Andean region for 2002 (this is on top of the $1.3 billion two-year

package approved last year). The administration intends to send a

massive

$363.04 million in training, spare parts and equipment for Colombia's

military and police forces. This funding will expand support for

fumigation, an extreme policy with negative effects on the environment.

The administration is selling the ARI package as \"balanced,\" with 50% of

the

money going to regional security forces and 50% for social and economic

development. However, the request for Colombia is still 71% military.

The

package also includes sharp increases in military aid for all of

Colombia's

neighbors. The one positive element, a result of all of the criticism

last

year, is an increase in alternative development assistance (crop

substitution programs) to a number of countries in the region. For a

full

analysis of the package by the Center for International Policy, please

click

here.

This action alert was written by the Latin America Working Group. For

more

information, please see our website at www.lawg.org or call

202\/546-7010.

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