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Last Updated:3/7/02
Speech by Rep. William Delahunt (D-Massachusetts), March 6, 2002

Mr. DELAHUNT. I thank the gentleman for his generous words and for yielding me this time.

Mr. Speaker, as others have alluded to, almost 4 years ago, President Andres Pastrana embarked on what was truly a courageous effort to bring peace to his nation. He began negotiations with the FARC and the ELN, the country's two main guerilla groups. He did so because he realized that, after almost 40 years of conflict, a negotiated agreement was the only answer to end the violence.

These efforts focused world attention on Colombia. For the first time, the international community was brought directly into the negotiations. Hope prevailed that the brutal violence that has plagued that nation for decades would at long last end. I shared that hope. At President Pastrana's request, I myself went to the so-called demilitarized zone. I met with the FARC, which is the largest party to this conflict.

I left, hopeful that the FARC was genuinely serious about the search for peace. They claimed that they were prepared to work to create a new Colombia that would embrace social and economic justice and bring peace to a population exhausted by violence.

Sadly, they have proven they were not serious. At great political cost, President Pastrana gave the FARC every opportunity to prove their good faith. But they, the FARC, could not summon the political resolve, the will, the courage, if you may, to choose peace. Sadly, they were not serious.

From an insurgency that once based its legitimacy on a promise of social and economic justice for all Colombians, the FARC have degenerated into criminal syndicates that traffic in drugs, that extort, that kidnap and that murder civilians. The FARC have failed to meet the challenge of peace. They have failed the Colombian people. So now I share what I know to be the profound disappointment felt by President Pastrana and the people of Colombia.

But, fortunately, the peace process with the ELN is still continuing. Like the FARC, the ELN claim to want to address the social inequities that are at the root of the conflict. But the ELN have actually proposed how to do that; and, at least at this point in time, they appear to have the will to make peace. However, tragically, even while negotiating, the ELN also continue their armed campaign of kidnapping and sabotage.

But what disturbs me most profoundly is the recent rapid growth of right-wing paramilitary groups, commonly referred to as the AUC. They commit more than 70 percent of the massacres in the course of the Colombian conflict, and their brutality knows no bounds of human decency. Their leadership readily admits to deriving most of their funding from drug trafficking. Klaus Nyholm, the head of the U.N. drug control program in Colombia, says that they are substantially more involved in the drug trade than the FARC.

Most significantly for U.S. policy, the AUC, as mentioned by the gentleman from California, the ranking member, have extensive links with the Colombian military, according to our own Department of State report that was issued this week. That explains the reluctance of so many of us in this body to provide unconditional military assistance to the Colombian armed forces.

While President Pastrana and Colombian armed forces chief Fernando Tapias deserve credit for taking steps to professionalize the military, unfortunately, far too many of these unsavory links remain. Until all relationships, at every level, between the military and the AUC are ended, the U.S. can and should condition its assistance.

Unbelievably, these paramilitary groups rationalize their acts of terrorism as what is needed to fight the guerillas. They say they traffic in drugs only to support that fight. They say that what they really want is peace. They even claim that they are the Northern Alliance of Colombia, ready to help the United States fight the FARC.

They are not Colombia's Northern Alliance. They are Colombia's al Qaeda.

Let us be clear. There is no place for an AUC in a democracy. In a democratic society, it is the exclusive role of the armed forces and the police, working under the legitimate government, to maintain public order, to defend the nation, and protect individual civil liberties. And there is a legitimate government in Colombia duly elected by the Colombian people. The AUC are not the answer to Colombia's problems. In a very real way, the AUC are cooperating with the FARC and the ELN in sending Colombia into chaos and more bloodshed.

We know what the FARC's position is. We have learned it the hard way. Now it is very important for us to be clear with both the ELN and the AUC. Let me say to them, now is the time to reveal your true selves, to show the world what you really want for your nation. You say you want peace. You put it on your websites. You make these public statements. Prove it. Declare an immediate, unilateral cease-fire and an immediate suspension of all criminal activities. Lay down your arms. You can do it today. Now.

That way, the Colombian military can concentrate its efforts on the FARC; and the world can see that the other parties to the conflict are willing to act for peace, not just talk about it.

So Senor Gabino, who is the leader of the ELN, and Carlos Castano, the leader of the AUC, now is the time, now, to decide which side you are on. Are you with the Colombian people who desperately want to end 40 years of horror? Or are you with those who would drown your nation in the blood of its own citizens?

This resolution today makes clear which side the United States is on. This is just the beginning of our debate. We still must have an extensive review, including hearings, on the details of any U.S. assistance, just as there should be a peaceful debate inside Colombia on how to address that country's very real problems, particularly its glaring social and economic inequities.

But there should be no doubt as to which side the United States is on. We are with the Colombian people.

As of March 7, 2002, this document was also available online at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/B?r107:@FIELD(FLD003+h)+@FIELD(DDATE+20020306)
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