Narco News 2001
January 10, 2001
It's
Almost Official:
European
Union Rejects "Plan Colombia"
International Parliament:
"The
US Proposal is a War
Plan"
Final
Vote Next Week
Publisher's Note: For
five months the US press corps has played a disingenuous game
by claiming, on and off again, that the European Community supports
the $1.3 billion US-imposed "Plan Colombia" military
intervention.
Since August, The Narco
News Bulletin has consistently explained why this is not the
case; we have reported that the European Union is opposed to
the war plan.
Yesterday, as AFP reports
from Brussels, the US Plan Colombia project faced its final defeat
in the process leading to next week's vote by the full parliament.
None of our sources believe there is any possibility for a last
minute revival of the plan. The Spanish government is isolated
in its support for Plan Colombia and the rest of Europe is offering
a loud "NO" to the Plan. Washington is now more isolated
than ever in supporting this modern-day atrocity.
Brussells, Belgium
January 9, 2001
Reported by AFP, Translated by Narco News
A Commission of the European Parliament
rejected on Tuesday a resolution for the anti-drug Plan Colombia
of President Andrés Pastrana, as it demonstrated support
for the peace process in the Andean country.
The resolution will be voted on next week
in the full European House in Strausborg, France, after a member
of the Commission and another of the European Council respond
to questions about Plan Colombia, said deputy Joaquim Miranda
on Tuesday.
The position of the European Union (EU)
on the plan "will be made clear once and for all,"
said Miranda of Portugal{s United Left Party, president of the
commission on Development and Cooperation. "The European
Union should support a peace plan in Colombia, but at the same
time distance itself from Plan Colombia, which is a war plan,"
he said. The European Union has pronounced in favor to supporting
peace in Colombia but not Plan Colombia.
Various countries have expressed their
opposition to Plan Colombia, among them Sweden and Belgium, while
Spain actively supports it. The European Council and Commission
will have to give their opinion next week about the military
portion of the Plan and report on the participation of the European
Union in the Plan, "in specific terms such as the intervention
and the financial contribution." It will also have to explain
to the members of Parliament if it believes that some interventions
could have negative effects on peace negotiations, if it fears
the extension of the conflict to neighboring countries and a
sophisticated arms traffic in the region.
In the resolution, the members of Parliament
consider that "a large level of militarization of the anti-drug
fight runs the risk of escalating the conflict in the region."
From the People
Who Predicted this Outcome Last August