Your March 27 editorial, "Congress Must Act on Colombia," advocates
another act of aggression by the U.S government on a Third World
country, this time in the name of fighting drugs. The $1.3 billion in
military aid to Colombia would benefit Occidental Petroleum and the
U.S military corporations that are lobbying steadily in Washington.
The $1.3 billion in American tax dollars could be used for drug
treatment and other programs to fight drug use.

Human rights organizations have found links between the Colombian
military and paramilitary death squads and the massacre of
noncombatants, including members of religious communities. Indigenous
people were forced out of their lands for the purpose of oil drilling
by corporations. A look at the history of U.S. interventions in Latin
America should give us pause rather than reason to plunge into
violence against innocent people. Basta!

Shaee Khatapoush,
Los Angeles