U.S. Aid to Colombia

Many of the changes in aid to Colombia that you contacted your members of Congress about in 2007 became law when the president signed the all-rolled-into-one spending bill on December 26. While still very far from the perfect world we dream about, the law makes some positive changes in U.S. aid and policy towards Colombia.

The Colombia package in the foreign aid bill includes:

• cuts military and police aid in the foreign operations bill by $141.5 million below what the President asked for, a 31 percent cut.
• increases economic and social aid by $97.4 million, a 70 percent increase.
• aid that we called for to strengthen human rights and protect victims of violence, including funding for investigation and prosecution of human rights abuses; witness protection for victims; investigation of mass graves; funding for legal representation of victims; and contributions to the UN Human Rights office in Colombia.
• cuts aid for the inhumane and environmentally damaging aerial spraying program, and increases aid for alternative development programs.
• ties the human rights conditions to 30%, not just 25%, of military aid in the foreign operations bill.
• $15 million for development aid for Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities
• in the human rights conditions that the Army must respect the rights and territories of Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities
• restrictions on investment in oil palm development if it causes people to be displaced or environmental damage.

See the Colombia package legislative text and an analysis by Adam Isacson of the Center for International Policy.

What wasn't achieved? Among other things, we were not able to affect funding in the less transparent and less accountable defense bill, which also includes funding for counternarcotics programs, and we would have liked the human rights conditions to apply to all military aid—and for more military and aerial spraying funding to be cut.

But this is a real step forward! It would not have been possible without all of your actions in support of peace and human rights in Colombia.

In March, the House of Representatives made a strong statement of concern regarding lack of human rights progress in Colombia—and added several aircraft to the Colombian police and navy's drug interdiction efforts. Representatives Sam Farr and James McGovern sent a letter signed by 59 members of Congress to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, urging the secretary to withhold certification that Colombia is meeting the human rights conditions established in law. The letter urged progress on specific cases and improvements in the human rights record of the 17th Brigade of the Colombian army (Reps. Shays and Bean also sent similar letters). The State Department is currently withholding a portion of FY2005 military aid from the Colombian government due to lack of progress in investigating cases of human rights abuses. Your actions asking your members to sign helped make this a significant letter.

See the letters and signers at: http://www.lawg.org/docs/RiceCertification03-06.pdf
See LAWGEF memo on certification at: http://www.lawg.org/countries/colombia/certification2006.htm

"Certification is our only congressional oversight tool for urging the Colombian government to comply with international human rights norms," stated Congressmen Farr and McGovern. The certification process mandates that in order for the Colombian military to receive 25 percent of each year's military aid budget, the State Department must certify that significant progress is being made on cases of human rights abuses by Colombian security forces. Currently, the Department of State is withholding 12.5 percent of the approximately $640 million in police and military aid from FY2005.

The House of Representatives approved $26 million in additional assistance for Colombia's police and military last week in an amendment to the Iraq supplemental bill. Proposed by Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN), the sudden amendment was passed in the House by a margin of 250 – 172. The funds will add to the approximately $600 million in aid that Colombian security forces are already scheduled to receive this year from the United States.The amendment will fund marine patrol aircraft for the Colombian navy and helicopters for the Colombian national police. While intended for drug interdiction, these aircraft could be used for protecting spray planes and for the war effort more generally.

The original version of the amendment intended to send nearly $100 million to Colombian security forces, but Rep. Burton reduced it to $26 million in an effort to gain support. The final version of Rep. Burton's amendment was especially difficult to oppose because it did not simply add $26 million to the Iraq supplemental bill, but took the money from a program to construct more prisons in Iraq. Members were forced to choose between sending money to the Colombian security forces or sending it to Iraq for building prisons—neither a very attractive option.

Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), ranking member on the foreign operations subcommittee, spoke on the House floor just before the vote. Ms. Lowey had recently returned from a trip to Colombia and called for a new approach to U.S.-Colombia policy focusing on alternative development in lieu of drug crop eradication. "I think it is time that we look at a different mix for funding for Colombia, one that boosts spending on alternate development and interdiction programs and reduces funding for eradication programs which I think are ineffective at best," Lowey stated.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) reported that despite the largest drug crop spraying campaign ever in Colombia in 2004, there was no change in the amount of coca produced, and similar figures are expected for 2005. The drug problem is fundamentally one of supply and demand, and in order to stop it money should be put into drug prevention and treatment programs at home in order to reduce demand, and into alternative development abroad in order to reduce supply.

This skirmish was not the major vote for aid to Colombia this year, which will still take place as the FY 2007 foreign operations appropriations bill comes to the House floor in May or June. Congress is expected to request that Plan Colombia continue as it has for the past six years, with 80 percent of the aid going directly to Colombian security forces. We support amendments to this bill that transfer aid from military assistance to humanitarian needs; we would like to see the United States prioritize aid for those most negatively affected by Colombia's conflict, including internally displaced persons, Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities, and the rural poor.

View the roll call for the vote on Rep. Burton's amendment.

Also, thank your member of Congress if they signed the Farr-McGovern letter and/or voted NO on Rep. Burton’s amendment.

Our voices are finally being heard on U.S. policy towards Colombia! In June, a new positive direction for Colombia was approved by the full House of Representatives. With all of your calls to Congress, supporters of the old approach did not have the votes to reinstate military aid and turn back the clock. Just a few weeks after the foreign aid bill was approved, House Resolution 426 on the crisis of internal displacement in Colombia passed the full House by voice vote, with many members of Congress giving impassioned speeches in support. In the Senate, the Appropriations Committee has approved an aid package with increased support for human rights, rural development and humanitarian needs. The Latin America Working Group this year brought together diverse groups to present recommendations for the Congress that helped to turn the tide. But these recent victories reflect our all our collective hard work over the past several years to shift aid for war to aid for development and peace.

Since Plan Colombia began, 80 percent of the annual aid package has gone to the security forces, with only 20 percent going towards social and economic programs. By reducing military aid to 55 percent of the aid package, while simultaneously approving over $100 million more in economic and judicial aid than President Bush requested, the House version of the foreign aid bill marks a very significant shift in the U.S. role in Colombia. Aid is increased for rural development and internally displaced persons. Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities are slated to receive $15 million in development aid, to be used in consultation with these communities.

The aid package aims to strengthen respect for human rights by providing judicial
institutions with the resources they need to investigate abuses and collaboration with
paramilitaries, and includes funding for witness protection as well as to increase victims’ access to justice. Human rights conditions would apply to 40 percent, not just 25 percent, of military aid in the bill.

For several years, proponents of Plan Colombia have claimed that aerial spraying would diminish coca cultivation and thus decrease the availability of cocaine on U.S. streets. However, according to the House report accompanying the bill, “…the perennial goal of reducing Colombia’s cultivation, processing and distribution [of coca] to restrict supplies enough to drive up prices and diminish purity has not worked and the drug economy continues to grow—further weakening the fabric of Colombian society.” Given this failure, the House foreign aid bill sensibly reduces funding for spray planes used to fumigate farms and increases aid for small farmers.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has passed its version of the bill, although the bill won’t go to the Senate floor until September. While the Senate version is not as dramatic a change as in the House, it continues a positive direction in aid to Colombia, increasing aid for rural development and manual eradication. It greatly strengthens aid for the rule of law and for victims, including funding to increase victims’ access to justice and to investigate mass graves.

We can’t rest yet! The final version must be passed by the Senate and approved in the House-Senate conference.

These gains were achieved despite unrelenting pressure from the Colombian government, its many highly-paid lobbyists and the Bush Administration to keep military funding in place and to pry loose approval of the pending U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement. After an unproductive visit to Washington this spring, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe returned after just a few weeks, vowing to win over the Democratic Congress. LAWG joined with the Washington Office on Latin America, labor and human rights groups to organize a press conference during which members of Congress pointed to the targeted killing of 72 trade unionists last year in explaining their opposition to a trade pact with Colombia. Rep. Phil Hare (D-IL), a new member and former union leader, put his concerns bluntly: “If I had been born in Colombia, there is a strong possibility I would not be here with you today. I could be dead.” Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) underscored the impact of the trade agreement on small farmers: “Many farmers will be forced to choose between leaving their farms for crowded factories or growing lucrative drug crops.” New member Betty Sutton (D-OH) and staunch human rights advocate Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) also spoke. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) delivered the basic message to President Uribe: “He keeps coming back, time and again, because he doesn’t like the message he’s hearing: human rights, human rights, human rights… We want to see real change, real action, not just hear more endless talk.”

As the Congress wrapped up the FY06 foreign operations bill, there’s some good news and bad news for Latin America. Latin America Working Group and coalition groups won some of what we had called for in this bill, which funds US aid programs worldwide. The Congress decided to maintain the ban on military aid to Guatemala, in place since 1990. The Bush Administration pushed harder than usual to lift the ban, arguing that Guatemala had made sufficient progress, and the House lifted the ban in its version of the bill. Grassroots activists, LAWG, NISGUA, Guatemala Human Rights Commission, WOLA and other groups called on Congress to keep the ban due to continued threats and attacks against human rights and social activists and lack of progress in implementing military reforms contained in the 1996 Peace Accords. The final bill also contained $3 million in DNA analysis and support for forensic investigations in Guatemala, Mexico, Argentina and other parts of Latin America. It contained a provision we supported to stop the erosion of aid to Central America, by mandating that aid to the region not drop below 2005 levels.

The Congress approved $734.5 million for the Andean Counternarcotics Initiative, as expected. In a great disappointment, the House rejected what the Senate had done to improve the balance of aid to the Andean countries, especially Colombia – the Senate had for the first time placed a cap on military and police aid to Colombia of $278 million and had increased development funds. The final balance of aid to Colombia from the Andean Counternarcotics Initiative will be $310.8 million in military/police aid and $158.6 million in economic/judicial aid, which is the same quantity of military aid and $6.5 million more in economic aid than the year before. Colombia also receives military aid from other accounts in the foreign operations and defense bills, so that the balance of aid will remain overwhelmingly—probably still 80%—military.

The Congress also approved $20 million in aid to fund the paramilitary demobilization. Colombian human rights groups have criticized the demobilization process for providing minimal punishment to leaders responsible for massacres and assassinations; for having no truth commission; and for failing to ensure that demobilized paramilitaries disclose their crimes, structures and financial assets. The underlying concern is that paramilitary violence will continue in other forms. The Congress fortunately included conditions on the assistance, although not as strong as we would have wished. The conditions require the Secretary of State to certify that demobilized paramilitaries receiving benefits have renounced violence and disclosed their involvement in past crimes and knowledge of the paramilitary structures, financing sources, illegal assets, and the location of kidnapping victims and bodies of the disappeared. They also require State to certify that the Colombian government is providing full cooperation to the United States in extraditing individuals who have been indicted in the United States for murder, drug trafficking and kidnapping. Disturbingly, the administration plans to take the $20 million in aid for the paramilitary demobilization out of the limited existing development funds for Colombia, including alternative development and, possibly, programs for the internally displaced. However, Congress has not specifically agreed to this, and we will work to insist that it comes from other sources.

The human rights conditions for Colombia—which had resulted this year in a seven-month delay in delivering some US military aid—were maintained and a new provision added to reflect concern about the war’s impact on indigenous communities. The State Department will be required to certify that “The Colombian government is taking effective steps to ensure that the Colombian Armed Forces are not violating the land and property rights of Colombia’s indigenous communities.”

The environmental conditions on the aerial spraying program for Colombia were also maintained. The conditions also require compensation for food crops destroyed, in cases where farmers were not growing any coca or poppy. While these conditions have proven extremely difficult to enforce, maintaining them keeps certain minimal limits on the program.

The bill requires the Agency for International Development to appoint a special advisor for indigenous issues worldwide—an effort to ensure greater consultation with indigenous peoples and improve how they are affected by aid programs.

The Congress kept the requirement for the State Department and Defense Department to make public a Foreign Military Training Report on US military training programs around the globe. This report has been essential for monitoring US programs to Latin America, as documented on by Center for International Policy, LAWG and WOLA on http://justf.org/.

Thanks to all of you who worked hard to tell Congress to make aid and policies that supports human rights, denies military aid to human rights abusers, and supports humanitarian and development aid. We wish they’d listened to everything we had to say! But whether they did or not, we’re going to keep calling for the United States to support peace, justice, and human rights, and generous, well-targeted aid for poverty reduction. And we know you will too.

Action: Thank Senator Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) for their hard work and dedication to aid for poverty reduction around the globe and policies that support human rights in Colombia and Guatemala in particular. Thank Rep. Kolbe (R-AZ) and Senator McConnell (R-KY) for retaining the ban on military aid to Guatemala. It is most important for members of Congress to hear this from their own constituents.