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From: Pakito Arriaran <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2000 1:50 PM
Subject: MLL: The Reason Behind the $1.6 Billion Colombian Aid Package
The Reason Behind the $1.6 Billion Colombian Aid Package
By Michael T.Klare - Pacific News Service
In the biggest step-up in US military aid to Latin America since the
Reagan era, the Clinton Administration is preparing to provide Colombia with
a $1.6 billion in all sorts of helicopters, communications gear, combat
training, and other forms of assistance.
'All this aid is supposed to strengthen Colombia's capacity to fight
narcotic traffickers and the leftist guerrillas. But there is another,
hidden objective - to protect US access to the largest untapped pool of
petroleum in the Western Hemisphere.
US interest in Colombia's drug production is well known. Government sources
claim that Colombian drug traffickers supply as much as 90 per cent of the
cocaine flowing into the United States, plus a large proportion of the
heroin sold in the US Eastern third of the country.
Far less known is the Colombia's role in satisfying America's vast and
growing petroleum habit. According to the US Department of Energy (DOE), US
oil consumption rose by over 15 per cent between 1990 and 1999, rising from
17 to 19.5 million barrels per day.
During the same period, Colombia's oil production rose by about 78 per
cent, with most of the added amount going to the United States, making it
today,
the seventh largest supplier of oil to the USA. But the US strategic
calculations are more concerned with the future US consumption which is
expected to rise by another 5 million barrels per day over the next twenty
years, and most of this oil will have to come from foreign sources.
These quantities could easily be provided by the Persian Gulf countries,
especially such petro giants as Iran, Iraq and also Saudi Arabia.
However, the US strategists are reluctant to increase America's dependence
on the unstable (and very increasingly unfriendly) states of the Middle
East - and so seek more accessible suppliers. This is now where Colombia and
neighboring Venezuela enter the picture.
Although Colombia's current oil production is dwarfed by the petro giants,
the country is believed to possess 2.6 billion barrels of untapped petroleum
and perhaps ten times this amount in possible reserves.
Since the Gulf War of 1991, US leaders have moved to increase the
importance of Western Hemisphere. "We are undergoing a fundamental shift in
our reliance on imported oil away from the Middle East," the White House
noted in a May 1997 report on national security policy.
Noting that Venezuela is the number one foreign supplier and that "..
Venezuela and Colombia are each undertaking new oil production ventures,"
the report called access to these supplies is a "vital interest" to the
United States.
This has significant security implications. Once a source of oil is
designated a "vital interest" it becomes incumbent on Washington to assure
the long-term safety of these supplies.
In the past this has entailed direct intervention by US forces or providing
large military aid to friendly governments. In calling now for stepped-up
aid to Colombian military, US officials have stressed the need to go after
Leftist guerrillas.
Rarely mentioned, however, is the fact that the guerrillas are attacking US
oil interests in Colombia, especially pipelines in 1999, for example the
pipeline from the Cano Limon field - operated by US based Occidental;
Petroleum Co. and Royal Dutch Shell - was bombed 70 times.
In fact the key point in guerrillas stated program is to expel foreign
interests and use future oil profits to improve the lot of Colombia's
extremely impoverished masses. All this raises important questions about the
aims of the aid program. The $1.6 billion is described as a one-time
"emergency" measure, intended to tip the scales on the narcotic battlefield
in the (Ed Note: Narco-) government's favor.
But it is very doubtful that this amount - five times the amount of
previous allotments - will make a lasting difference, and additional
infusions of US aid will be needed in the future.
When we add Colombian oil supplies to the strategic equation, it appears
that we are now talking about a very extended future indeed.
Given the risk this military package will lead to protracted and
ever-expanding involvement in Colombia's messy conflicts, it is essential
that the administration and the various pro-aid factions in Congress be more
forthcoming about America'($)s long-term interests in Colombia.
If increasing our dependence on Colombian oil means expanding our
involvement in that country's internal wars, we may be better off looking
elsewhere for our future oil requirements."
COMMENT
An excellent expose of US imperialism, but the author lacks the needed step
to call US what it really is - an Imperialist bully, trampling the interests
of all humanity for its own greedy profits and exploting everyone in its
path. That is why the wars in Chechniya and Kosovo... not for "human rights"
but for "oil and gas" riches which USA has no longer adequate supplies. The
need for a unified force to fight American imperialism (akin to Fascism) is
desperately needed now, not in the future, but as soon as possible!
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