Speech by Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), March 18, 2002

Speech by Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), March 18, 2002
Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I congratulate my colleague, Senator Dodd, for a very eloquent and compelling statement in regard to the tragedies that are going on in Colombia today. I think he does very well in expressing the sentiments of all the Members of the Senate. I thank him for that eloquent comment.

Colombia must be looked at not just as a place we worry about in regard to drugs coming into this country, not just as a country that we have to partner with to try to deal with our mutual drug problem, the production of drugs, and the huge consumption of drugs in the United States, although we are partners in that effort, but we also must understand that what is going on in Colombia is a direct threat to the democracy of Colombia.

Senator Dodd has spelled out very well what has been going on. We do have a longstanding democracy in this hemisphere, a democracy that has been a friend of the United States for many years that is, in fact, imperiled. When we make a decision about what assistance we can and will give in the future, we need to keep that in mind.

As of March 27, 2002, this document was also available online at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/B?r107:@FIELD(FLD003+s)+@FIELD(DDATE+20020318)