US lawmakers fail to tie Colombia’s civil war to terrorism

Radio Havana Cuba—News Update—, 25 April 2002

Washington, Bogota, April 25 (RHC)—US lawmakers seeking to boost military aid for the Colombian governmentᡄs battle against leftist rebels have at least temporarily failed to tie the civil war in Colombia to the war on terrorism. The House Foreign Relations Committee announced Thursday that revision of a draft bill to lift restrictions on aid to Colombia has been indefinitely withdrawn from the agenda due to a lack of consensus.

In the latest bid to lift the restrictions, the Republican-controlled committee claimed Wednesday that the Irish Republican Army has well-established ties with the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces insurgency, which includes teaching the rebels the tactics of urban terrorism. The allegation was based on the arrest in Colombia last August of three Irish nationals who Colombian authorities claim were connected with the IRA and were training the rebels in the use of explosives.

But officials from both the State Department and the Drug Enforcement Agency admitted that they had no direct proof. Republican lawmakers have proposed giving Colombia an extra 538 million dollars in aid next year, but without the current restrictions that the money be used only to fight drug trafficking.

Lifting those restrictions has sparked controversy in Congress, not only regarding a possible greater US involvement in Colombiaᡄs civil war, but also in relation to what some perceive as a lack of results in the war on drugs in spite of the hundreds of millions earmarked for Colombia, as well as a lack of a clear vision regarding US foreign policy with respect to the Andean nation.