Improvements in U.S. Aid to Colombia Solidified

President Bush signed the spending bill into law on December 26th, finalizing significant reductions in U.S. military aid to Colombia. As previously reported, both houses of Congress voted to shift spending on Colombia away from the country’s notorious military and police forces in the FY2008 spending proposals, including some overall cuts in aid to Colombia.

The final Foreign Aid Appropriations bill shows military funding decreased by 31% ($141.5 million), and a 70% increase ($97.4 million) in social and economic aid. There is a 12% overall decrease in funding in the bill, bringing the foreign aid total down to $545.6 million in 2008. Additional military funding is expected to come out of the defense bill, which gives Colombia around $130 million annually.

For more more detailed information, please see Adam Isaacson's blog or read the following report from the Latin America Working Group:

"Many of the changes in aid to Colombia that you contacted your members of Congress about in 2007 became law when the president signed the all-rolled-into-one spending bill on December 26th.

While still very far from the perfect world we dream about, the law makes some positive changes in U.S. aid and policy towards Colombia.

The bill:

• cuts military and police aid in the foreign operations bill by $141.5 million below what the President asked for, a 31 percent cut.
• increases economic and social aid by $97.4 million, a 70 percent increase.
• includes aid that we called for to strengthen human rights and protect victims of violence, including funding for investigation and prosecution of human rights abuses; witness protection for victims; investigation of mass graves; funding for legal representation of victims; and contributions to the UN Human Rights office in Colombia.
• cuts aid for the inhumane and environmentally damaging aerial spraying program, and increases aid for alternative development programs.
  ties the human rights conditions to 30%, not just 25%, of military aid in the foreign operations bill.
• includes $15 million for development aid for Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities;
• includes in the human rights conditions that the Army must respect the rights and territories of Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities;
• and restricts investment in oil palm development if it causes people to be displaced or environmental damage.

What wasn't achieved?

Among other things, we were not able to affect funding in the less transparent and less accountable defense bill, which also includes funding for counternarcotics programs, and we would have like the human rights conditions to apply to all military aid and for more military and aerial spraying funding to be cut.

But this is a real step forward, only possible with all of your actions in support of peace and human rights in Colombia."