Bush administration seeks to maintain aid levels to Colombia

[Judi Lynn]

Bush administration seeks to maintain aid levels to Colombia
The Associated Press

Published: October 24, 2006


BOGOTA, Colombia U.S. President George W. Bush will ask Congress to maintain current aid levels to Colombia, running more at than US$600 million (€478 million) a year in mostly military aid, an administration official said Tuesday.

The call for continued funding is a major boost to President Alvaro Uribe, Washington's staunchest ally in Latin America, and comes despite the failure of record drug eradication efforts to reduce the cocaine trade in the South American nation.

"In any counterterrorism or counter-narcotics campaign you sometimes have to adjust strategy to be effective as conditions change," Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told reporters in Bogota, announcing the White House was seeking to maintain current levels of support for its caretaker in the war on drugs through 2008. "We'll be open to any suggestions the Colombian government makes."

U.S. military and anti-narcotics officials have said recently that aid for the drug eradication and counter-insurgency strategy known as Plan Colombia, which has cost American taxpayers more than US$4 billion (€3.2 billion) since 2000, should be gradually reduced as Colombian authorities take over more duties.
(snip/...)

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/24/america/LA_GEN_Colombia_US_Aid.php

[zreosumgame]

1. well yeah, gotta keep daddy's cocaine flow going

[Peace Patriot]

2. What's really going on here, I think, is the Bushites are establishing a

kingdom in South America, with the Bush family purchase of 100,000 acres in Paraguay, from which to launch pogroms against the leftist movements in Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru, using $600 million here and $600 million there, of US taxpayers money, to create their private army in the Andes region. Plan Colombia has become Plan Paraguay ("anti-drug" death squads on the move) which will become paramilitary Plan Bolivia, etc., etc. With these hundreds of millions of dollars they can create the infrastructure--as they are doing with the US military base and airport in Peru--and fund quite a few Blackwater-type mercenaries, then, if the money spigot from the US runs dry (a possibility, though not a certainty, with a Democratic Congress and/or President) begin squeezing the poor to pay for their own oppression, and re-conquering rich oil and gas resources to fund more death, torture and other horrors.

$4 billion total, since 2000. That's the way to turn the murderous US "war on drugs" into the murderous Bushite war on leftists movements and democratic governments. The nonsense about these billions being "gradually reduced as Colombian authorities take over more duties" is a carbon copy of the Bushites' lies about Iraq, where they have (I just figured out) used many more billions in our money to deliberately destabilize Iraq, in order to entice Iran--the real prize--into a war.

$4 billion to buy a stronghold in South America, from which to launch resource wars there as well.

I hope the solidarity of all of Latin America's new leftist governments holds up, so that they can stave off this dark scheme. I was rather dismayed by Chile's abstention in the UN votes to choose between Guatemala (Bush's choice) and Venezuela (one of the best leftist governments), for the Latin American Security Council seat--and by what appears to be Condoleeza Rice/John Bolton's success at creating a split. But perhaps that vote isn't all that important, and a good compromise will result--in, say, Brazil or Chile taking that seat. Solidarity on other matters is far more crucial to the future of South American democracy--such as creating regional economic strength to fend off US corporate/World Bank/IMF inroads, and fostering the Latin American consensus against US militarism, fascism and Bushism.

[EFerrari]

3. Link Tv ran a documentary about this situation today.

The punchline was how destructive the Bush policy was for Columbians and how much worse the whole thing has become as a result.