-- Nathan Newman ========
Minn. Dem. Criticizes Colombia Plan
Foreign Affairs News Keywords: COLUMBIA DRUG WAR PAUL WELLSTONE Source: The Associated Press By KEN GUGGENHEIM
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - Paul Wellstone has been an outspoken opponent of the $1.3 billion Colombian anti-drug aid package, fearing it could worsen Colombia's guerrilla war and drag the United States into the four-decade old conflict.
``I have some concerns about whether counter-narcotics and counter-insurgency have become merged,'' Wellstone, D-Minn., said in an interview with The Associated Press late last week.
Wellstone got a firsthand look at Colombia's problems Thursday, visiting Barrancabermeja, the country's deadliest town. Hours before he and U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson arrived, police discovered two shrapnel-wrapped land mines alongside the road leading from the airport. Colombian police and Wellstone's office say they don't believe Wellstone and Patterson were the targets.
``I knew yesterday that we had to be careful,'' Wellstone said Friday on arrival at Miami International Airport, en route to Minnesota.
Most of the Colombian aid package is for helicopters and other military equipment to help Colombian security forces fight guerrillas who partly finance their insurgency by protecting coca fields and cocaine laboratories. U.S. officials have insisted they will not get involved in the guerrilla war.
Wellstone has tried unsuccessfully to have Congress shift funds from Colombian military aid into domestic drug treatment programs.
``He was the only one out there - or at least the loudest out there - who was worried about the effect it would have in getting the United States into the conflict, the effect on the peace process and whether it would affect drug policy at all,'' said Adam Isacson of the Center for International Policy, which opposes the aid plan.
After the aid package was signed by President Clinton in July, Wellstone continued to be outspoken on Colombia, criticizing the administration for waiving human rights conditions that could have blocked the aid and opposing Republican efforts to add another $99 million to the package.
``Paul Wellstone has been a staunch ally of human rights in Colombia,'' said Andrew Miller of Amnesty International. ``He's been instrumental in raising human rights concerns and attempting to shift the debate away from eradication efforts toward addressing the demand for drugs here in the U.S.''
In the AP interview, Wellstone said he intended to examine the human rights situation in Colombia and the relationship between the Colombian military and rightist paramilitary forces, which are accused of widespread rights abuses.
Wellstone said he believes that ``constructive pressure'' on President Andres Pastrana will accelerate the process of separating the two forces.
``The human rights violations ranging from torture to murder to massacres has gone down on the military side but is up on the paramilitary side,'' he said.
EDITOR'S NOTE - Associated Press Writer George Gedda in Washington contributed to this report.
On the Net:
Wellstone's office: http://wellstone.senate.gov/
State Department on Colombia aid: http://www.state.gov/www/regions/wha/colombia/index.html