Colombia scandal could affect aid

[Judi Lynn]

Feb. 16, 2007, 11:00PM
Colombia scandal could affect aid

By JOHN OTIS
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle South America Bureau

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA — An influential U.S. senator called for a reappraisal of American aid to Colombia after the arrest of five Colombian lawmakers in a mushrooming scandal involving paramilitary death squads.

Analysts in Colombia said the arrests could tarnish the image of President Alvaro Uribe's ruling coalition as it seeks a huge new U.S. aid package and prepares for a visit by President Bush next month.

In Washington, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees aid to Colombia, said the developments confirm his concerns about the extent of the paramilitaries' influence.

"We need to take a new look," Leahy said in a statement, "at what has worked, what has not, what we can expect to accomplish in the future — and how much more we should ask American taxpayers to pay."

Bush administration officials have asked for $586 million in mostly military aid for Colombia, which has already received about $4 billion since Uribe took office in 2002. The Uribe government also seeks congressional approval of a trade agreement signed last year.
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/4560728.html

[acmavm]

1. America's entire 'foreign aid' program needs to be looked over. And in

most cases the aid needs to stop.

Republicans bitch about welfare when it comes to poor Americans. But they sure love to hand out the money to foreign governments that keep their feet firmly planted on the throats of their citizens under the guilse of 'protecting democracy'. Funny how 'protecting democracy', when broken down, always means supporting corporate America.

[Peace Patriot]

2. We owe aid to South America, after what we have done to them--crashed

their economies with NAFTA and onerous World Bank/IMF loans to the super-rich (the rich rip off the money, the poor pay the price), following decades of extremely brutal interference--tens of thousands of people tortured and slaughtered for their leftist politics. But giving one country--the most rightwing, and the most corrupt--$4 billion in military aid for the murderous US "war on drugs" is most certainly not the right thing to do. How many schools could that money build? How many teachers could it pay? How much fertile land could it buy for small farmers to grow their own food? How much could $4 billion do to stimulate the development of local products and local manufacturing? To promote self-sufficiency and self-determination? To foster conservation of the Amazon? To help convert the continent to "green" energy, as we must do here as well? And how about stimulating local arts, instead of forcing "canned" corporate music and drama on local markets?

Typical of the Bush Junta to stimulate killing instead.