----- Original Message -----
From: kloMcKinsey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2000 1:59 PM
Subject: Re: MLL: Colombian revolutionaries vow to confront aggression
Pakito Arriaran wrote:
>
> > -------------------------
> > Via Workers World News Service
> > Reprinted from the July 6, 2000
> > issue of Workers World newspaper
> > -------------------------
> >
> > AFTER U.S SENATE VOTE:
> > COLOMBIAN REVOLUTIONARIES VOW TO
> > CONFRONT AGGRESSION
> >
> > By Andy McInerney
> >
> > The U.S. Senate took a giant step toward all-out war in
> > Colombia on June 21.
> >
> > The Senate voted 94 to five for a billion-dollar package
> > of military aid for the Colombian government. The package
> > is part of a much bigger $7.5 billion "Plan Colombia" that
> > is being orchestrated by the U.S. government.
> >
> > The reaction from Colombia was swift and defiant. "If the
> > people of Colombia are threatened, we will confront the
> > aggression," warned Simon Trinidad, spokesperson for the
> > Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC-
> > EP).
> >
> > "The Plan Colombia will raise more Manuel Marulandas,"
> > Trinidad said. Manuel Marulanda, popularly known as
> > "Tirofijo"--Sureshot--is the legendary leader of the FARC-
> > EP.
> >
> > The Colombian Communist Party issued a June 23 statement
> > opposing the aid. "The approval of the Plan Colombia by the
> > United States Congress shows that a new chapter of military
> > intervention in Colombia is unfolding," the CCP's Executive
> > Committee wrote. The party called for a national
> > mobilization against the Plan Colombia.
> >
> > Before the Senate vote, 60 Colombian labor, human-rights
> > and community groups signed a declaration to the
> > international community opposing the Plan Colombia. "We
> > reject the Plan Colombia because it uses an authoritarian
> > concept of national security exclusively based on a
> > strategy against narcotics," the statement explained.
> >
> > "It will lead to the escalation of the social and armed
> > conflict. It fails to provide real solutions to drug
> > trafficking. It attacks the Indigenous populations by
> > destroying their culture and way of life."
> >
> > U.S. war package
> >
> > The $932 million approved by the Senate is primarily
> > designed to bolster the Colombian armed forces. The package
> > now needs to be reconciled with the $1.7 billion package
> > approved by the House of Representatives.
> >
> > The final package--attached to a bigger appropriations
> > package whose passage is all but assured--is expected to
> > total at least $1.3 billion.
> >
> > The centerpiece is an armada of 60 combat helicopters. The
> > House package includes 30 Huey II attack helicopters and 30
> > advanced Blackhawk helicopters; the Senate package provides
> > 60 Hueys.
> >
> > The package also provides funds for training three elite
> > counter-insurgency battalions, expanding the number of
> > Special Forces "advisers" beyond the 200-300 that the
> > Pentagon admits are already there. These battalions are
> > supposed to lead a "push into the south," referring to the
> > FARC-EP's stronghold.
> >
> > The Plan Colombia is marketed in the United States as part
> > of the "war on drugs." But any analysis of the aid package
> > and the current situation in Colombia reveals that this is
> > for public consumption only.
> >
> > The package is actually aimed at Colombia's powerful
> > insurgencies, the FARC-EP and the National Liberation Army
> > (ELN).
This is the key observation in the light of which all other events
should be viewed. The "war on drugs" in Columbia is nothing more than a
charade, a moralistic cover, to mask the true intention of the American
government which is to deprive the liberation fighters of the primary
source of their funding. To fight a war large sums of money are
mandatory, absolutely necessary, and the major difference between the
situation in Columbia and that which occurred in Vietnam is that in the
latter instance the Soviet Union provided the basic wherewithal while in
Columbia a crop is the source. Don't be so childish as to be beguiled
by American propaganda. The United States has one over-arching, supreme
goal in Columbia and that is to destroy the FARC-EP as a significant
political force and especially eliminate any control it may exercise
over various regions. That is unmistakable purpose of the recent
Congressional appropriations.
For the Cause,
Klo
> >
> > Military aid has skyrocketed from around $50 million in
> > 1998 to over $1 billion--a 20-fold increase in just two
> > years. Colombia is now the third biggest recipient of U.S.
> > military aid in the world.
> >
> > Study after study shows that drug traffickers in Colombia
> > maintain close connections to both the Colombian Armed
> > Forces and the political elite there. They have no
> > independent armed forces.
> >
> > Ruling-class crisis deepens
> >
> > The massive aid package is designed to prop up Colombia's
> > weak and notoriously corrupt ruling class. This regime is
> > currently facing depression-level economic conditions as
> > well as an unprecedented political and military challenge
> > from both the armed insurgencies and the mass movement.
> >
> > Unemployment in Colombia is officially over 20 percent; in
> > many areas it is over 50 percent. The Colombian peso has
> > lost over half its value against the dollar in the last
> > year alone.
> >
> > After a string of military defeats at the hands of the
> > insurgencies, the government of President Andres Pastrana
> > has been forced to the table for talks with the FARC-EP.
> > For the last 18 months, Pastrana has ceded a five-
> > municipality "demilitarized zone" to the FARC-EP so that
> > talks can be carried out.
> >
> > The talks have featured a series of "Public Audiences," in
> > which Colombians from around the country can travel to the
> > zone and make proposals for how they would address the
> > problems facing Colombia. These meetings have often become
> > popular speak-outs against the government's economic
> > policies that capitulate to the demands of the
> > International Monetary Fund.
> >
> > In the past two years, unions have led a series of general
> > strikes against Pastrana's economic policies. Peasants have
> > staged blockades of highways. In June, residents of the
> > Choc� province staged a general strike to protest the
> > government's neglect of the region.
> >
> > Few believe that the Plan Colombia can resolve this deep
> > crisis. "The U.S. aid is going to trigger a total crisis
> > and stimulate the war," political analyst Alejo Vargas told
> > USA Today on June 23.
> >
> > The package does signal a new level of struggle--a sign
> > that U.S. imperialism will not stand by quietly while its
> > representatives in Bogota are in trouble. Now U.S.
> > diplomats are twisting arms in Europe to approve more aid
> > at a high-level ministerial meeting in Spain in July.
> >
> > As opposition to the aid mounts in Colombia, Colombians
> > will surely be looking to the progressive movement in the
> > United States for allies and for solidarity.
> >
> > - END -
> >
> > (Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
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>
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