From "International Report," House International Relations Committee, July 20, 2000

From "International Report," House International Relations Committee, July 20, 2000

“Absurd Fiction” in Colombia

After their ammunition ran out, 13 Colombian policemen were brutally murdered last week as they raised their arms in surrender to FARC narco-guerillas in the town of Alpujara.

Since the CNP received six Black Hawk helicopters earlier this year, almost all of the opium in the high Andes Mountains in the Alpujara region has been eradicated. A retaliatory response was predicted by the head of the anti-narcotics police. Three of the six Black Hawks are kept in nearby Neiva, the city where the FARC was founded. The modern, fast-moving choppers could have reached the 13 beleaguered police officers at Alpujara in just 20 minutes. They could have laid down a protective field of fire, protecting the 13 police officers while they were resupplied.
Since the U.S. embassy maintains the absurd fiction that U.S. aid can only be used for counter-narcotics purposes, the Black Hawks weren’t called in.

A similar case occurred last April in which 22 CNP officers were killed (one was beheaded) in Choco province in the north near Panama. The use of even one Black Hawk for humanitarian purposes in that case reportedly was turned down by our embassy.

Although some State and Defense officials in Washington correctly see no distinction between the insurgency and the narcotics trade, the U.S. embassy in Bogota does and innocent men continue to die.

At the minimum, we ought to carve out a humanitarian exception for the use of these excellent defensive helicopters in cases like that in Alpujara and Choco.

As of July 21, 2000, this document was also available online at http://www.house.gov/international_relations/newsletter/irvol724.html