DATE=2/24/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SENATE-COLOMBIA (L)
NUMBER=2-259531
BYLINE=DAVID SWAN
DATELINE=CAPITOL HILL
CONTENT=

VOICED AT: 


INTRO: President Clinton's request for a major package 
of anti-drug aid to Colombia is meeting a skeptical 
early reception on Capitol Hill.  Among other things, 
the issue has been complicated by charges of ties 
between the Colombian military and right-wing death 
squads.  V-O-A's David Swan reports.

TEXT: The White House is trying to convince Congress 
to approve a two-year, one-point-six billion dollar 
effort to help Colombia stem the flow of narcotics.  
At a Senate hearing (Thursday) Deputy Secretary of 
State Thomas Pickering said the government in Bogota 
has the will to fight the traffickers.  He also tried 
to assure senators the (U-S) administration is 
concerned about human rights.

            /// PICKERING ACT ///

      Complicity by elements of Colombia's security 
      forces with the right-wing militia groups called 
      paramilitaries remains a serious problem.

            /// END ACT ///

That issue was raised by the group "Human Rights 
Watch."  The organization reports three Colombian army 
brigades have close links to paramilitary forces 
accused of atrocities against civilians.  Colombia's 
ambassador to Washington, Luis Moreno, testified his 
government is confronting the problem.

            /// MORENO ACT ///

      We're investigating these allegations of links 
      between military personnel and illegal armed 
      groups.  And we will continue to take strong 
      legal action against any individuals found to 
      have such links.

            /// END ACT ///

But many senators remain unconvinced.  Democrat 
Patrick Leahy denounced what he calls a sordid human 
rights record by the (Colombian) army.  

            /// LEAHY ACT ///

      So I can not support this military aid without 
      strict conditions to ensure that military 
      personnel who violate human rights or who aid or 
      abet the paramilitaries are prosecuted in 
      civilian courts.  The Colombian military courts 
      have shown time and again that they're unwilling 
      to punish their own (soldiers).

            /// END ACT ///

Other lawmakers asked if the Clinton administration's 
anti-drug effort is simply election-year politics -- 
or if the United States will be pulled deeper into 
Colombia's bloody drug wars.  There was one especially 
heated exchange between Republican Senator Ted Stevens 
and General Charles Wilhelm, the U-S military 
commander in the region.

            /// STEVENS - WILHELM ACT ///

      (Stevens) Who's going to go in if this blows up?  
      We've got 800 (Americans) people on the ground 
      (in Colombia).  Tell me this is not a Vietnam 
      again.  (Wilhelm) Sir, it is not a Vietnam 
      again.  I spent 1965, 66, 69 and 70 in Vietnam 
      and I think I'll know it when I see it happening 
      again.  When I go Colombia I do not feel a 
      quagmire sucking at my boots.

            /// END ACT ///

General Wilhelm also said he sees no institutional 
ties between the Colombian army and the death squads 
but he can not rule out what he calls "local 
collusion." (Signed)

NEB/DS/ENE/gm/latam



24-Feb-2000 15:10 PM EDT (24-Feb-2000 2010 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.