Congressional Record Statement
CSN-Madison, March 12, 2002
Extension of Remarks by: TAMMY
BALDWIN
March 7, 2002
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.Res. 358. We are all
deeply troubled by the ongoing civil war in Colombia. Efforts to attain
a peace agreement have not been successful so far, but the recent
set backs to the peace process do not change the fundamental nature
of the conflict and should not result in a rush to radically revise
U.S. policy.
This conflict did not arise from drug trafficking. It is a forty-year-old
conflict stemming from fundamental economic, political and social
tensions in Colombia. All parties have been implicated in drug trafficking.
And all parties have been responsible for serious and repeated human
rights abuses. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (known by
their Spanish acronym FARC), the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia
(AUC), and the National Liberation Army (ELN) have all contributed
to the murder, kidnapping and extortion now endemic in Colombia. This
Congress is clearly on record condemning these actions.
While Congress and the United States have condemned the revolutionaries,
the paramilitaries and the Colombian government for human rights abuses,
we have been very careful to avoid becoming entangled in the Colombian
civil war. As a very large and geographically diverse country, military
action in Colombia is quite difficult and could easily drag our nation
into a quagmire like Vietnam. We have wisely recognized this risk
and have limited military assistance to anti-narcotic activities.
In addition to limiting the use of U.S. military assistance to anti-drug
efforts, Congress has taken numerous steps to try to break the links
between the Colombian military and the paramilitary forces of the
AUC. U.S. and Colombian non-governmental organizations have clearly
and definitively documented significant and ongoing collaboration
between the paramilitaries and the Colombian military. Paramilitary
violence has increased even as the record of the Colombian military
has improved. Most estimates indicated the paramilitaries commit more
than 75% of the non-combatant killings.
The resolution under consideration by the House states that the "Colombian
Government has made progress in its efforts to combat and capture
members of illegal paramilitary organizations and taken positive steps
to break links between individual members of the security forces and
such organizations." Well, saying it does not make it so. This
simply isn't the reality. A report last month from Human Rights Watch
(HRW), Amnesty International (AI) and the Washington Office on Latin
America (WOLA) concluded exactly the opposite. Their report noted
that President Pastrana has "failed to take effective action
to establish control over the security forces and break the persistent
ties to paramilitary groups." The report further noted that high-ranking
officers "failed to take steps necessary to prevent killings
by suspending security force members suspected of abuses, ensuring
that their cases were handed over to civilian judicial authorities
for investigation and prosecution, and pursuing and arresting paramilitary
leaders." Despite our efforts, we have not seen any significant
progress.
As part of the FY02 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, signed
by the President on January 10, 2002 (Public Law 107-115), the Secretary
of State must certify that Colombia has met certain human rights conditions
in order for aid to be released (Section 567). According to the HRW,
AI and WOLA report, the conditions required for certification have
not been met. I am very concerned that approval of this resolution
by the House will be a signal to the Colombian Government and the
U.S. Secretary of State that we believe these conditions have been
met. I do not believe that they have been and certification should
not take place at this time. Rushing this resolution to the floor
is unnecessary and a mistake. As my colleague from Massachusetts,
Mr. Delahunt, has said, we need to have comprehensive hearings on
Colombia. Using the war on terrorism to justify leaping into a forty-year-old
civil war with little debate or consideration is the wrong thing to
do. We must step back and evaluate our policy toward Colombia. The
United States has become embroiled in civil wars in the past, and
we've come to regret those actions. Let's not let that happen with
Colombia.