Colombia's vice president lobbies for U.S. aid package

Measure survives key congressional vote

March 9, 2000
Web posted at: 11:35 p.m. EST (0435 GMT)

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From staff and wire reports.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Colombian Vice President Gustavo Bell tried to reassure U.S. lawmakers Thursday that a $1.6 billion anti-drug aid package won't lead to U.S. involvement in the country's civil war.

MESSAGE BOARD War on drugs     ALSO How U.S. aid would be spent

The aid package survived a key vote in the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday, 33-13. It is part of a $7.5 billion package the Colombian government has proposed to battle the cocaine trade.

"The only thing we are requesting is your help with equipment in order to combat with our own resources -- our own people -- an international problem, which is drug cultivation," Bell said.

Bell

Colombia needs the money to offer coca farmers alternatives to the crop while at the same time eradicating it. But Colombia is battling two leftist insurgencies that control about 40 percent of the country and protect much of the coca fields.

The package includes money for military training, equipment and helicopters -- including about 30 Sikorsky Blackhawks, the mainstay of the U.S. Army. That has raised concerns among some that U.S. troops will be drawn into Colombia's conflict.

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, where the bill is to be considered in two weeks, has questioned whether the program could drag the United States into a Vietnam-like quagmire.

Colombia's military has been criticized for maintaining ties to right-wing paramilitaries that have been blamed for numerous killings of civilians suspected of leftist sympathies. Bell said Wednesday his government is "taking all measures to curb these ties."

The House Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved the $1.6 billion aid bill for anti-drug efforts in Colombia and other Latin American countries

Much of the House committee's work took place behind closed doors, which worried some human rights activists.

"What is troubling is that the American people know very little about what Congress is doing today, which is essentially embarking the United States on a multi-year, deepening involvement in the Colombian dirty war," Amnesty International spokesman Carlos Salinas said.

Colombia supplies most of the cocaine that reaches U.S. users. Despite the support of U.S. President Bill Clinton, fellow Democrats criticized the package, saying the money would be better spent on domestic treatment and prevention programs.

But Republicans in the Senate say they money is needed now.

"You can only say the cavalry's coming so many times before people quit believing that it is," said Sen. Paul Coverdell, R-Georgia.

State Department Correspondent Andrea Koppel, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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