Letter from Reps. Dan Burton (R-Indiana), Henry Hyde (R-Illinois), Tom Davis (R-Virginia), and Mark Souder (R-Indiana), June 7, 2006

Congress of the United States

Washington, DC 20515

Stay the Course in Colombia!

Dear Colleague,

This week we will take up consideration of the Appropriations Foreign Operations Bill with provisions relating to Colombia and the Andean Region where critical campaigns in the Global War on Drugs and Terrorism are being waged. As we prepare to take up H.R. 5522 (Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2007), let us draw your attention to the critical need to maintain our support for the newly re-elected President Uribe and bilateral cooperation against the scourge of narco-terrorism. Below are excerpts from House Report 109-486.

Excerpts from the Appropriations Committee Report accompanying H.R. 5522 Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2007

"...It is the Committee's view that the time has come to transition from assistance directed at counter-narcotics programs, to assistance designed to develop and promote the stable democracy that Colombia has become."

"The Committee has noted the successes of Plan Colombia and the measurable improvements that have resulted in the everyday lives of the Colombian people. Some have declared Colombia the `greatest success story in Latin America.' In fact, the Colombian Government's success in combating the cultivation of drugs and in restoring democracy can be measured in may ways:

· Coca eradication through spraying has gone from 47,000 hectares the first year of Plan Colombia to 138,775 last year;

· By regaining sovereignty over most of its air space, Colombia has decreased by 56 percent suspected drug trafficker flights;

· Drug flow to the United States has dropped by 7 percent;

· Kidnappings are down 51 percent and homicides 13 percent;

· All 1098 Colombian municipalities have a permanent government presence;

· Over 30,000 paramilitary have been demobilized;

·       200,000 acres of legal crops have been planted and 64,000 farm families have a `legal' farming option;

·       Unemployment has dropped from 20 percent to an estimated 11 percent;

·       In December, implementation of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States is expected to drop unemployment even more.

Clearly, Colombia has made remarkable progress. The Committee believes it is time to fund assistance to Colombia through the same mechanisms used to fund other strategic partners.