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
.