| Colombia albright Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) >http://www.democracynow.org/>Subject: Colombia Killings, Albright, & biowarfare > >Colombia Killings, Albright, & biowarfare > > >Democracy Now, Pacifica Radio, democracy@pacifica.org > >Anchored by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez >For a copy call 1-800-735-0230 >http://www.democracynow.org/ > > >Democracy NOW! Pacifica Radio > > >July 25, 2000 > >Senator Paul Wellstone Demands Albright Investigate "Killing Frenzy" In >Colombia > > Last week, President Clinton signed a $1.6 billion military aid bill > for Colombia, allegedly to be used in the so called war on drugs. This > aid package comes at a time when numerous massacres committed by forces > linked to the U.S.-backed Colombian military, are being uncovered. It's > interesting that The New York Times ran a front page article on one of > these massacres that took place in February. The piece ran a day after > Clinton signed the aid package. > > The article began like this: > The armed men, more than 300 of them marched into the tiny village of > El Salado, early on a Friday. They went straight to the basketball court > that doubles as the main square, residents said, announced themselves as > members of Colombia's most fear right-wing paramilitary group, and with a > list of names began summoning residents for judgment. > A table and chairs were taken from a house and after the death squad > leader made himself comfortable, the basketball court was turned into a > court of execution, villagers said. The paramilitary troops ordered > liquor and music, and then embarked on a calculated rampage of torture, > rape and killing. > > That was from The New York Times. Well, this massacre and others have > prompted Senator Paul Wellstone-Democrat from Minnesota-to call on > Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to investigate the reported murder > and disappearance of 71 civilians in El Salado and the murder of six > civilians last weekend in La Union, Colombia. We did ask the State > Department to join us on today's program. They turned down our offer. > >GUEST: > o SENATOR PAUL WELLSTONE, is a Democrat from Minnesota. He has just > sent a letter to Madeleine Albright demanding an investigation into > recent massacres in Colombia. >For more information: www.senate.gov/%7Ewellstone/ > >Drug Control Or Biowarfare Against Colombia? > Under pressure from the United States, Colombia has reluctantly agreed > to take the first step toward developing a powerful biological herbicide. > But scientists and environmentalists say it is virtually a biological > weapon. They say that along with killing coca plants, the toxic fungus > may pose serious dangers to the environment and human health. These > threats are so serious that Florida has suspended plans to test the > fungus for its own anti-drug efforts. > > For years, United States officials have been quietly debating ways to > conduct field tests of such an herbicide. > According to the New York Times, some powerful Republicans in Congress > told Colombian officials they were supporting the US aid package to > Colombia on the expectation that Colombia would agree to explore the use > of Fusarium fungus in its coca fields. > > Within the Clinton administration, according to the Times, the testing > of fungal herbicides was also pushed by the White House drug czar, Gen. > Barry R. McCaffrey, and by officials of the United States Southern > Command, which is overseeing the American overhaul of Colombia's armed forces. > For some years, lawyers at the White House and the State Department > debated whether it was possible to use the fungal herbicide on drug crops > without violating the international conventions against the spread of > biological weapons. The lawyers determined that the law would not be > violated if a foreign country made its own decision to use or test the fungus. > >GUESTS: > o JEREMY BIGWOOD, is an ethnobotanist and journalist based in > Washington D.C. He co-authored the piece "Drug Control or Biowarfare?" in > Mother Jones. > o SHARON STEVENSON, is a freelance journalist who has lived and > worked in Peru for eleven years. >She co-authored the piece "Drug Control or Biowarfare?" in Mother Jones. >www.motherjones.com/news_wire/coca.html >
|
|