Donald Rumsfeld visited Colombia in August to express U.S. support for the war on domestic insurgents and drug-traffickers.
Since then it’s been reported that private contractors such as DynCorp have received additional U.S. support despite unsuccessful efforts to stop the continued financing of that group and others in Colombia:
According to a report released by the US State Department earlier this year, there are 17 primary contracting companies working in Colombia, initially receiving some $3.5 billion.
The largest contracts have gone to companies like Lockheed Martin, DynCorp, and Northrop Grumman, but lesser-known firms like the Rendon Group (providing public relations support for the Ministry of Defense) and Science Applications International Corp. (assisting in imagery analysis) are also here.
According to this article Colombia bowed to U.S. threats to cut-off this funding in exchange for signing an accord that exempts Americans in the South American nation from prosecution before the new UN international war crimes court .
Many issues continue to be ignored in the non-debate preceding the signing-on to this continued funding.
Increasing instability in the region could lead to an unmanageable situation.
Colombian President Álvaro Uribe has presented a bill to his congress that would allow paramilitaries who have committed atrocities to skip prison for a fee. Among them are men that have ordered and carried out the killings of thousands of Colombian civilians.
Unlike other amnesty laws, the Uribe proposal presumes that accused paramilitaries would stand trial; however, it would be clear from the outset that the accused would face no punishment.
Widespread Use of Child Combatants
Children fighting in Colombia’s civil conflict–including thousands under the age of 15–undergo gruesome training regimens, are made to execute prisoners and forced into sexual relationships with commanders, according to a disturbing new report from Human Rights Watch.
Colombia cuts outreach programs for thousands of children working in prostitution
Thousands of abandoned and abused young people who have turned to prostitution in the streets of Colombia’s capital may never receive help from child care workers because of a government cut in funding for outreach programs, activists said.
The state family welfare institute said Tuesday it was eliminating about $60,000 a year in funds used by the Renacer foundation to locate, assess and refer exploited children. The decision outraged workers who said it halts aid for those who most need it.
”They will be left completely in the hands of the pimps, without any attention,” Timothy Ross, a Renacer volunteer, said of the estimated 5,000 children working in prostitution in Bogota.
If someone were to tally-up the number of civilians killed in the funding and execution of these dirty U.S. operations Saddam would look like a two-bit player in comparison.
Not a new observation but one that continues to sicken me.