Speech by Rep.
Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts), June 9, 2006
Mr. McGOVERN.
Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 4 minutes.
Mr. Chairman, this is a very straightforward amendment. It increases
funding by $30 million for the U.S. Emergency Refugee and Migration
Assistance Fund, and it decreases the Andean Counter Drug Initiative
by the same amount. The reduction in the ACI account should come from
eradication and military related aid above the President's request level.
It is my understanding from figures provided by the Foreign Operations
Subcommittee that, under the ACI, the President requested $506.2 million
for Colombia; the committee provided $545.2 million for all these categories
of aid. So even after this amount is reduced by $30 million, aid for
Colombia requested by the President would still total $515.2 million,
or $9 million above the President's fiscal year 2007 request.
Mr. Chairman, I have been on this House floor before expressing my concerns
about our policy in Colombia . The drug eradication policy, to be blunt,
has been a miserable failure. The Colombian military continues to commit
heinous acts with impunity.
Now, I know that some of my esteemed colleagues who oppose this amendment
will once again come to the House floor with their charts and graphs
and arrows pointing this way and that, but no matter how you slice and
dice it, the bottom line is that after 6 years and $4.7 billion for
Colombia, we are exactly where we started out as far as drug cultivation
is concerned. The same amount of coca is being grown today in Colombia
as in 1999. And this isn't Jim McGovern just saying this; this fact
comes from our own Office of Narcotics Control and Drug Policy. It is
their figures, their findings, their conclusion; the State Department
backs them up on this. $4.7 billion.
As the committee report accompanying this bill states so eloquently
on page 62: after a massive increase in fumigation from 47,000 hectares
at the start of Plan Colombia to today when we fumigated 138,775 hectares
last year, we have accomplished zilch, Mr. Chairman. Coca cultivation
in Columbia is at the same level or maybe slightly above from where
it was when we started.
On Monday, Mr. Chairman, headlines in the newspapers informed us that
a Colombian military unit murdered in a deliberate cold-blooded ambush
one of the most successful U.S.-trained antidrug units in Colombia.
Yesterday the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee froze $30 million
in military aid because it was so enraged over these murders and the
State Department's recent human rights certification.
Mr. Chairman, we have to respond to this. This House has to respond,
and this is the moment to do so. We are not undermining President Uribe
by adopting this amendment. Colombia will still receive more than what
the President of the United States of America asked for in fiscal year
2007. But we can send a powerful message to the Colombian Armed Forces
that we won't keep writing blank checks, we won't keep turning a blind
eye, we aren't a cheap date you can take advantage of.
Mr. Chairman, we have the opportunity to do some real good with this
amendment. We can fund the President's request for U.S. Emergency Refugee
and Migration Assistance fund. The fund currently stands at its lowest
balance in over a decade. The State Department generally draws down
between $60 million and $70 million in ERMA funds each year. There are
just too many unexpected emergencies happening around the world. Without
the increase provided by the amendment, we could be threatening the
life-saving assistance that can mean the difference of life and death
to persons caught in tragic violence or natural disaster. Whether we
are looking at an increasingly explosive border between Chad and Sudan
to preventing food aid pipeline breaks in Kenya and Uganda, to being
able to respond quickly to victims of earthquakes or volcanoes, this
fund is one of the President's most effective tools. With this amendment
we can give the President what he has requested and needs for Colombia
and ACI, and we can give him what he asked for and needs to meet emergency
refugee crises. And at the same time, Mr. Chairman, and for the first
time, we can send a powerful message to the Colombian military that
our pockets and our patience are wearing thin.
...
Mr. McGOVERN.
Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 30 seconds.
Mr. Chairman, my colleague is absolutely right, eradication has dramatically
increased in Colombia, but it has achieved absolutely nothing. There
is even more coca in Colombia today than there was in Plan Colombia's
first year. We have gone from 336,000 acres in 2000 to 355,000 acres,
and that is actually a 6 percent increase. How is that success?
When Plan Colombia started, it was supposed to decrease coca growing
by 50 percent over 5 years. That is what we were promised. Well, $4.7
billion later, we have a 6 percent increase over 5 years the amount
of coca being grown in Colombia.
Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr.
Farr) who is a Colombian expert and who was also a Peace Corps volunteer
in Colombia.
...
Mr. McGOVERN.
Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I will insert in the RECORD at this point an article that recently appeared
in the Financial Times entitled, ``Colombia `most dangerous' place for
trade unionists'' in the world.
[From the Financial Times, June 6, 2006]
Colombia ``Most Dangerous'' Place for Trade Unionists
(By Frances Williams)
Colombia remains the most dangerous place on earth to be a trade unionist,
with 70 people killed there last year for union activities.
In addition, 260 Colombian trade unionists received death threats ``in
a climate of continuing impunity for the assassins, according to the
annual survey released today by the International Confederation of Free
Trade Unions.
Right-wing paramilitary groups and the state security forces have been
blamed for most of the violence in Colombia. The ICFTU also records
slayings in Brazil and Honduras, and a ``pervasive climate of violence
and fear'' in Guatemala.
Worldwide, a total of 115 people were murdered for defending workers'
rights in 2005, more than 1,600 were subjected to violent assaults and
some 9,000 were arrested. Apart from Colombia, the report highlights
violence and repression in Iraq, Iran, El Salvador, Djibouti, China,
Cambodia, Guatemala, Zimbabwe and Burma.
Though the death toll was down from 145 in 2004, almost entirely due
to fewer killings in Colombia, ``we are nevertheless witnessing increasingly
severe violence and hostility against working people who stand up for
their rights,'' said Guy Ryder, ICFTU general secretary.
Even in the industrialised world workers' rights are frequently violated
or eroded, the report says. The Bush administration is accused of encouraging
``union-busting'' through measures via its National Labour Relations
Board to reduce the influence of trade unions.
The ICFTU also notes aggressive publicity campaigns in the US aimed
at weakening workers' trust in trade unions.
Australia is criticised for a wave of anti-union laws that it said would
deprive most workers of protection from unfair dismissal.
Publication of the report by Brussels-based ICFTU, whose 233 affiliated
organisations represent 145m workers, is timed to coincide with the
annual conference of the International Labour Organisation now underway
in Geneva.
The conference is expected to condemn Belarus for persistent interference
in trade union affairs and to consider action against Burma for its
refusal to end forced labour.
In Asia, violence against trade unionists by police and security forces
was documented last year in Burma, South Korea, India, Cambodia and
China, where dozens of trade union activists continue to be incarcerated.
In the Middle East, 13 union representatives were assassinated in Iraq
and there were reports of torture and violence against strikers in Iran.
In several other countries trade unions are outlawed or severely restricted.
In Africa, the report singles out Djibouti and Zimbabwe, where the trade
union movements suffer constant harassment by the government of President
Robert Mugabe.
Mr. Chairman, I would also insert in the RECORD an article that I referred
to earlier that appeared in the Boston Globe about how ``Colombia says
soldiers killed antidrug police.'' That Colombia's military unit assassinated
a U.S.-trained, elite antinarcotics team at the bidding of the drug
mafia 2 weeks ago. And what is the response of this House? Nothing.
The United States Senate froze $30 million in military aid because they
were so outraged that the Colombian military, who we finance, went out
and killed in cold blood this anti-drug police unit.
Mr. Chairman, we need to send a strong signal that we are not a cheap
date, that we are watching, that we care and we demand accountability.
[From the Boston Globe, June 6, 2006]
Colombia Says Soldiers Killed Antidrug Police
AUTHORITIES PROBE COLONEL FOR LINK TO MAJOR TRAFFICKER
(By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan)
BOGOTA.--Suspicions that a Colombian military unit assassinated a US-trained,
elite antinarcotics team at the bidding of the drug mafia two weeks
ago have proven true, officials say, in a case that has badly shaken
public confidence in the military.
On May 22, 10 of the country's most successful antidrug police were
killed by a military platoon in the outskirts of Jamundí, an
area under the influence of narco-traffickers 195 miles southwest of
the capital, near Cali.
Two military officers and six soldiers were arrested Thursday on the
basis of incriminating cellphone text messages and crimescene evidence
that investigators say prove the eight men planned the killings. The
suspects insist the shootings were a ``friendly fire'' mistake.
``This was not a mistake, this was a crime; this was a deliberate decision,
a criminal decision,'' Attorney General Mario Iguarán said last
week. ``They were doing the bidding of a drug trafficker.''
Authorities are investigating bank accounts allegedly containing $44,000
belonging to Army Colonel Bayron Carvajal, the most senior officer arrested,
as well as his alleged links to Omar García Varela, according
to Colombian newspaper El Tiempo. Varela is accused of being right-hand
man of drug boss Diego Montoya, one of the United States' 10 most-wanted
narcotraffickers, who is believed to control properties and drug laboratories
near the site of fatal attack. The United States has offered $5 million
for information leading to Montoya's capture.
Questions remain in the Jamundí case about the extent of alleged
collusion with drug traffickers within the armed forces, and how high
up it may go. The arrests came days after the US State Department certified
Colombia's human rights record, ensuring the flow of most US military
aid to this country. Last year, Congress withheld some military assistance
on worries that the Colombian government, which has waged a nearly decade-long
campaign against drug corruption, was ignoring extrajudicial killings
or cooperation between the military and right-wing death squads.
The Jamundí case has sparked a national outcry that has reached
up to President Álvaro Uribe, but Uribe on Friday said he was
not ready to oust generals to hold them responsible for the killings.
The best way to restore military credibility, he said, would be to clarify
events and impose sanctions on the guilty.
Among the most damning evidence against the arrested soldiers are text
messages allegedly sent by Carvajal on the day of the killing to the
lieutenant and sergeant in charge of the platoon.
``Pull back the ambush. . . . Everything is set for tonight,'' read
one message leaked by authorities to El Tiempo and the newsmagazine
Semana.
That afternoon, Carvajal sent another message, the media reported: ``Get
ready for the group to come with the chicken so you can get it.''
``Chicken'' was the nickname of civilian informant Luis Eduardo Betancur,
who was leading police to a suspected 440-pound stash of cocaine. Betancur
was also a registered informant of Carvajal, authorities say. He was
found shot in the neck, with his balaclava removed, investigators say.
Eight of the 10 police killed were shot in the back, and ``the crime
scene was contaminated before investigators arrived,'' said an investigative
official yesterday who spoke on condition of anonymity. Investigators
suspect soldiers may have fired shots from the police officers' weapons
after they died, in an effort to make it look like there was a confrontation,
El Tiempo reported.
Fewer than half of the soldiers in the 28-man platoon fired at the police.
Witnesses interviewed by telephone from Jamundí say the police
identified themselves during the attack and begged the soldiers not
to shoot.
More than half of the shots fired originated from a military sniper
who was hidden from view, said an investigative official.
When colleagues of the slain police arrived at the scene to investigate,
another text message allegedly demanded to know why they had been allowed
to pass a military roadblock.
The police unit had been trained by the Drug Enforcement Administration
and was responsible for more than 200 arrests of drug traffickers, including
23 wanted for extradition to the United States.
Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms.
Schakowsky), who is an expert on Colombian's eradication policy.
...
Mr. McGOVERN.
Mr. Chairman, we are very much committed to Colombia and committed to
success, but the fact of the matter is that after $4.7 billion there
is even more coca in Colombia today than there was in Plan Colombia's
first year. We want success. We want to achieve results. We just don't
want to go along because we don't want to admit that maybe we can improve
this policy.
...
Mr. McGOVERN.
Mr. Chairman, I think it is important to put this debate in perspective.
Nobody is talking about the dismantling our support for Colombia. Nobody
is talking about withdrawing all of our support to Colombia. What we
are talking about is sending the appropriate message at this appropriate
time.
I will agree with the gentleman that fumigation has never been higher.
But the problem is that there is even more coca in Colombia today than
there was in Plan Colombia's first year. So maybe we need to rethink
our strategy. Maybe it is not working. I think any reasonable person
who looks at the statistics, provided by our own government, would come
to that conclusion.
I will agree with the gentleman that President Uribe deserves credit
for lowering the number of kidnappings in Colombia. But I am not prepared
to give him a pat on the back in the face of what just happened, where
U.S.-funded Colombian military soldiers went out and killed in cold
blood antinarcotic policemen who are dedicated to combating drugs in
Colombia.
What kind of message are we sending when we respond to that by doing
nothing, by saying you have to continue to get everything that you expect?
The United States Senate understands what is at stake. They froze $30
million in military aid in response to that. We need to send a signal
too: we are not a cheap date. We want to support you, but we want there
to be accountability. We want an end to the violence. We want the military
not to be above the law.
...
Mr. McGOVERN.
Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Facts are stubborn things, and maybe I haven't been clear in this debate,
but when the opposition here talks about we are cutting aid to Colombia,
that is not true.
The bottom line is we are providing Colombia everything that the President
of the United States has requested, plus $9 million more. That is not
cutting Colombia. That is not walking away from the drug war.
What we are frustrated with is the billions that we are spending are
not accomplishing the goals we were promised. We are concerned there
could continue to be gross human rights violations by the Colombian
military. We want to send a signal and strengthen President Uribe's
hands in helping to bring those military men to justice who committed
those terrible murders against those police officers. We also want to
call attention to the fact that all of this money that we have been
sending down there has done nothing to reduce the amount of coca cultivation
and growth in that country.
...
Mr. McGOVERN.
Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I just want to alert the Members that there is broad support for this
amendment. The support ranges from the American Refugee Committee to
Amnesty International to the International Crisis Group, International
Rescue Committee, the Jesuit Conference, Mercy Corps, Refugees International,
the Steel Workers, the United Methodist Church. I could go on and on
and on.
Support for this amendment ranges from--The American Refugee Committee,
Amnesty International, The International Crisis Group, International
Rescue Committee, The Jesuit Conference, Mercy Corps,
To--Refugees International, The Steelworkers, The United Methodist Church.
--
DEAR CONGRESSMAN MCGOVERN: We are writing to express our strong support
for your efforts to increase funding for the Emergency Refugee and Migration
Assistance (ERMA) account during floor consideration of the Fiscal Year
2007 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.
The ERMA account, managed by the State Department's Bureau of Population,
Refugees, and Migration (PRM), is one of two refugee assistance accounts
that help the United States meet its national interests by protecting
and assisting refugees and internally displaced persons who have been
victims of persecution and conflict. ERMA funding supports programs
that relieve explosive international tensions and set an example for
the rest of the world. In addition to helping address unexpected refugee
and displacement crises, ERMA supports humanitarian agencies on the
front lines of both new and longstanding crises around the world--stretching
from Iraq and Sudan to Colombia and Haiti. Recent ERMA drawdowns have
responded to the Pakistan earthquake; refugee repatriation in Burundi
and the Democratic Republic of Congo; the humanitarian crises in Somalia;
and breakdowns in the food pipeline for refugees in Africa and elsewhere.
The ERMA balance currently stands at $24 million--the lowest level in
a decade. PRM generally draws down between $60 million and $70 million
in ERMA funding annually and requires a beginning-year balance of between
$70 million and $100 million to have the flexibility needed to respond
quickly to emergencies.
It is therefore difficult for us to understand the severe cuts in the
ERMA, as well as other humanitarian accounts, being recommended by the
House Appropriations Committee. The Committee's reduction of ERMA funding--to
a level of 28 percent below the President's FY 07 request--comes at
a time when PRM is struggling to cope with serious budgetary constraints.
These cuts, which also have impacted the Migration and Refugee Assistance
(MRA) account, threaten the life-saving assistance provided to persons
caught in the tragic violence of Sudan, Colombia, and other conflict-affected
areas.
We urge the House of Representatives to restore funding for these critical
humanitarian programs and strongly support your efforts on the House
floor to address the cuts in the ERMA account.
Sincerely,
Air Serv International.
American Jewish World Service.
American Refugee Committee.
Catholic Relief Services.
Episcopal Migration Ministries.
[Page: H3661]
Ethiopian Community Development Council.
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.
International Catholic Migration Commission.
International Rescue Committee.
Jesuit Refugee Service/USA.
Kurdish Human Rights Watch. Inc.
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.
Mercy Corps.
National Peace Corps Association.
Oxfam America.
Refugees International.
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center.
U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.
Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children.
World Relief.
...
CLOSING
REMARKS:
Mr. McGOVERN.
Mr. Chairman, let me just kind of go over a few things here. First of
all, on the issue that somehow we are withdrawing from our support for
Colombia, let me remind my colleagues that the President of the United
States asked for $506.2 million. The committee provided $545.2 million.
My amendment would reduce that to $515.2 million, or $9 million above
the President's request for Colombia. So we are not doing anything here
to walk away from Colombia.
Secondly, on the issue of human rights, the United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights reported this year that more grave violations of human
rights were committed directly by Colombia's military forces than in
the past. The ICRC has recorded a 13.6 percent increase in disappearances.
The number of people forced from their homes by violence increased by
8 percent over the past year.
I introduced into the RECORD earlier, and I will remind my colleagues
about an article that appeared in the Financial Times. The headlines,
Colombia, The Most Dangerous Place For Trade Unionists. And I also inserted
into the RECORD, and I will remind my colleagues about this article
that appeared in a number of newspapers that the Colombian military
units assassinated U.S. trained antinarcotics teams at the bidding of
the drug mafia. So in some areas, there is improvement, but Colombia
is still near the top of any human rights watch list.
Let me, again, make one other point that I have made repeatedly here.
We have invested $4.7 million in Colombia. We were promised that coca
cultivation would be cut by 50 percent by the proponents of this. The
bottom line is, according to this chart, that has not happened. In fact,
coca cultivation has actually increased in Colombia.
I agree with my friend from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) when he says the conservatives
are supposed to, they don't want to eliminate waste and demand more
efficiency in government. Well, by any measure, this has not been an
efficient use of taxpayer dollars.
So, Mr. Chairman, in conclusion, let me just say that we have heard
the arguments on the other side. Massive increases in fumigation, overwhelming
support for President Uribe, kidnappings down, cities and highways safer.
Well, Mr. Chairman, that is all true. But massive increases in fumigation
have not led to any reduction in coca cultivation. Overwhelming popular
support for President Uribe has not resulted in even a dent in the impunity
enjoyed by military officers tied to drug lords, mafia kings, paramilitaries
and who carry out violent human rights crimes and other criminal acts.
Kidnappings are down, but assassinations, disappearances and death threats
against labor, religious indigenous Afro-Colombian and other community
leaders is skyrocketing according to the United Nations High Commissioner
on Human Rights, the International Committee of the Red Cross and every
other reputable human rights organization in the world. And if cities
and highways are safer, the rural country side is as dangerous, violent,
bloody and as perilous as ever.
We can do something good with this amendment. We can do something right.
We can provide the President with a little more than he asked for, both
for refugee emergencies and for Colombia. So I would urge my colleagues
to support the McGovern-Leach-Payne-Lofgren-McCollum-Grijalva-Schakowsky-Lee
amendment.
As of June
13, 2006 this page was also available at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/R?r109:FLD001:H53648
