COLOMBIA PLAN HAS NOT WORKED

Peace is possible in Colombia but not through more military aid and aerial
spraying of small farmers' crops.

In the past five years, the United States has given more than $3 billion in
taxpayer money to the Colombian government; 80 percent of this money funds
the military and police.

Plan Colombia has failed. Congress billed Plan Colombia as a counter-drug
policy. Yet the price, purity and availability of drugs on U.S. streets
have not changed. U.S. support of the Colombian military has not helped our
South American neighbor draw closer to a solution to the protracted armed
conflict.

Plan Colombia has not worked. It is time for a change. We need an aid
package that provides social and economic development in Colombia's rural
areas, protects human rights and the just rule of law, ends aerial spraying
of crops and provides alternative development in rural areas and provides
drug treatment in the United States in order to reduce the market for drugs.

The Bush administration has requested more than $700 million to continue
funding Plan Colombia. Congress should vote no and refuse to fund this
failed policy. U.S. assistance to Colombia could go a long way in
supporting the victims of violence, truly addressing the U.S. drug problem
and creating the conditions for true security. It is time to fund a program
of peace for Colombia.

- -- Noreen Ordronneau

Carrboro