Statement Of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.),
Chairman, Senate Subcommittee On State And Foreign Operations,
On President Uribe’s Visit And On Funding For Plan Colombia
Wednesday, May 2, 2007

[Sen. Patrick Leahy is the author of the annual certification requirements attached to a portion of U.S. military aid to Colombia and chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that handles the Senate’s work in putting together the annual State Department and foreign operations budget, including spending for Plan Colombia.  Leahy met Tuesday with Mario Iguaran, Colombia’s Prosecutor General, and he will attend Wednesday’s Senate meeting with President Uribe, hosted in the Capitol by Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.]

“We give more than a quarter of a billion U.S. tax dollars to the Colombian military each year.  Three-fourths of that aid is provided with no conditions.  Before the remaining fourth can be released, the Secretary of State must certify that the Colombian government and military are meeting several human rights conditions.  These annual requirements have played a role in the progress we have seen in Colombia on human rights.  On April 5 Secretary Rice made the most recent certification.

“I have withheld the release of those funds because I – and other Members of Congress – are concerned about reports of paramilitary infiltration of the Colombian government and military, as well as extrajudicial executions by the military.  These reports are not new, but more information has recently surfaced.  There are even reports that the chief of the Army, General Montoya, commanded troops who collaborated with paramilitaries.  I do not know if these reports are accurate, but we have an obligation to assure ourselves that they are not.  We do not want our aid to go to anyone with links to paramilitaries.  Uncovering the truth is important, and so is acting on the truth.

“I have supported President Uribe for five years.  I continue to support him, and I want him to succeed.  He has done much good for his country.  But that does not mean I agree with everything he says or does.  Nor does it mean that, as chairman of the Appropriations panel that provides more than half a billion dollars to Colombia each year, I am going to rubber stamp these funds the way the previous Congress did.

“The Administration and the Congress have a fiduciary responsibility to American taxpayers to use these dollars wisely and to take care that U.S. military aid is part of the solution, instead of perpetuating Colombia’s problems.

“When Plan Colombia began, we were told it would cut by half the amount of cocaine in five years.  Six years and $5 billion later, it has not had any measurable effect on the amount of cocaine entering our country.  We need to assess what has worked, what has not worked, and what we can reasonably expect to accomplish.  We want to support Colombia, and we will.  But the new Congress is not going to write a blank check the way the last Congress was.”

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