Obama pledges more than $450 million aid to help Colombia peace plan
Source: Reuters
Politics | Thu Feb 4, 2016 8:14pm EST
Obama pledges more than $450 million aid to help Colombia peace plan
WASHINGTON | BY ROBERTA RAMPTON
President Barack Obama said on Thursday he would ask the U.S. Congress for more than $450 million in aid to help Colombia end "half a century of wrenching conflict" and implement a peace accord aimed at ending Latin America's longest war.
If approved, the aid would help with security and fighting the drug trade, as well as educating and retraining members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the leftist rebel group at war with the government since 1964.
"After half a century of wrenching conflict, the time has come for peace," Obama said after meeting with Colombian President Juan Manual Santos.
The U.S. government would also commit $33 million to a global program to help the country remove land mines in the next five years, and Obama said he would help mobilize more international aid if the peace deal is reached.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-colombia-idUSKCN0VD2XM