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| U.S. Backs Colombia's Embattled Pastrana on Peace |
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Posted by FoM on August 31, 2001 at 14:56:42 PT By Jason Webb Source: Reuters 
With Colombia's peace talks on the ropes, an embattled President Andres Pastrana got help from an important ally on Friday when a top U.S. official backed the talks and heralded more emphasis on social aid in the Plan Colombia anti-drug campaign.U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman stressed that Pastrana's insistence on negotiating with Marxist FARC rebels was the only way to end a 37-year-old war that has claimed 40,000 lives in the past decade. "I did not make any recommendations to President Pastrana. What I did was to agree with President Pastrana that there was a need to restart the peace process," he said. The Colombian president has been accused of giving too much ground in exchange for too few concessions in peace talks with rebels that have stretched out over 2-1/2 years. The United States also wants speedier implementation of alternative development programs as part of Pastrana's anti-cocaine "Plan Colombia." Washington has awarded about $1 billion in mainly military aid for the program. Grossman said that Plan Colombia should push harder to modernize Colombia's courts, rehabilitate child soldiers and protect union leaders, human rights activists and other civilians from Marxist rebels and far-right paramilitaries. "We support Plan Colombia because Plan Colombia recognizes that a negotiated settlement is the only way to achieve peace," he told a news conference after a three-day visit here -- his first to a country he sees as a U.S. foreign policy priority. Under Plan Colombia, U.S. aid -- which is limited to cash, equipment, military trainers, and civilian crop spraying pilots -- does not directly target the guerrillas or paramilitaries but is meant to sap their income from cocaine. He praised the year-old plan's success so far in spraying 120,000 acres of fields of coca, which is processed into cocaine. Colombia, by far the world's largest cocaine producer, now has 400,000 acres of coca, according to the latest United Nations study. Grossman's visit, which prepares for Secretary of State Colin Powell's trip Sept 11-12, came at a time when Pastrana needs support for talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- known by the Spanish initials FARC. Colombian Foreign Minister Guillermo Fernandez de Soto, in New York, said he was pleased by Grossman's statements. "We are very happy that the United States has expressed not just its support for the peace process but also the continuity of the efforts to support Colombia in these matters," he told reporters after chairing a U.N. Security Council meeting. Pastrama Faces Deadline On Enclave As an Oct. 7 deadline looms for the president to decide whether to allow the FARC continued use of a demilitarized enclave in southern Colombia, guerrillas are accused of using the Switzerland-sized territory as a prison for kidnapping victims and as a base for running a drug business. The United States has also expressed anger at the FARC over incidents like the kidnapping of three German aid workers. Washington was particularly irritated by the capture this month of three men suspected of being Irish Republican Army members training FARC rebels to make sophisticated bombs. Grossman stressed the importance of the prompt delivery of 35 U.S. helicopters to increase the mobility of Colombia's U.S.-trained counter-narcotics battalion. Given growing controversy here over the health and environmental effects on peasant farmers of chemical sprays and their main ingredient, glyphosate, Grossman said the United States would welcome an independent study on its safety. "I think that our aerial eradication campaign is sensible. It is safe. It is well documented to be safe and we are not ashamed of it and we are actually quite proud of it," he said. Source: Reuters Related Articles & Web Site: Colombia Drug War News Checking Progress, U.S. Group Visits Zone Economics, Not Drugs, at Root of Colombian War Many Colombians Back Decriminalization Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #3 posted by dddd on September 01, 2001 at 14:02:38 PT |
| ..I appreciate the correction,,and it's quite likely you are much more knowledgable about these copters,,,but what makes you so sure these are merely "transport vehicles"???Keep in mind that domestic disinformation is widespread concerning all of this,,,but I admit that my only reason for tossing out that blurb is sheer speculation,and suspicion.....Do you have a inside source?....I could easily be wrong,but it would seem to me that these aircraft being mere "transport vehicles",is highly unlikely. dddd [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #2 posted by wades on September 01, 2001 at 13:12:11 PT:
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.......The delivery of 35 brand new state of the art helicopter gunships If you're referring to the Blackhawks, those ought not to be called "gunships." They're transport vehicles, mainly, for hauling squads of infantry around for quick assaults. They probably can be equipped with door guns, but they don't carry miniguns or missiles. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by dddd on September 01, 2001 at 06:20:32 PT |
| ....Here's my usual gaudy and excessivly verbose ramble on what's gonna happen down in Colombia within the near future, (probably before the years end).. It appears to me,that the abundance of articles recently,and these If I'm wrong,,,I'll move to Beaverhead County,Montana,,and get a haircut.
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