Nita Lowey: “Mr. Chairman, this bill provides $574 million for Colombia. The amendment would cut $75 million from that total. And the…”

“Mr. Chairman, this bill provides $574 million for Colombia. The amendment would cut $75 million from that total. And the reason I support it, although I have great respect for the chairman's position, is because I have fundamental questions about the direction in which our Colombia policy is headed. As my colleagues may know, the United States' commitment to Colombia has shifted in the last year from being exclusively focused on drugs towards an open-ended, long-term commitment to aid the Columbian government in its war against guerillas and terrorists. The response to that shift in the United States' policy has been more violence directed at U.S. personnel, including kidnappings, hostages being taken and planes being shot down. Next year marks the end of the original 5-year Plan Colombia, and as we near that time we find that coca production in the region has increased rather than decreased, violence continues unabated, more Colombians are internally displaced. The human rights situation is worse. No viable alternative development scheme is in place, and drug dealing paramilitary organizations control much of the country. Meanwhile, the amount of United States assistance to Colombia has increased every year to over half a billion requested next year. Plans underway in the administration will lead to an even broader commitment to Colombia to assist in this civil war in the name of fighting terrorism.”