Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-01-31-Speech-3-128"
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"en.20010131.6.3-128"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, exactly which Plan Colombia are we discussing here? Is it the first version which was sent straight to us, in English, from the United States before being submitted to the Colombian Congress or the second version, intended for Europe, which stresses the social aspect but certainly does nothing to conceal the basically military nature of the plan. This programme of aid to the Colombian Government aims to combat drug production and trafficking. How is it going to do this? By providing the Colombian Government with weapons. This military equipment is apparently going to be used to destroy cocaine plantations. You will forgive me if I am somewhat dubious about the use of these weapons in a country which, since 1948, has been devastated by a war sparked off by socio-economic reasons that are valid today, but which is increasingly becoming a war between the military-paramilitary alliance and the people. Exactly who does Plan Colombia see as the opposing forces? Officially, it is the Colombian State combating drug traffickers. In reality, the drug barons are protected by paramilitary groups, who are in turn trained by the Colombian army. These are the groups that are killing peasant farmers, the coca growers, and driving out the people living in areas valued highly by the oil companies. That is without even mentioning the pressure exerted on the supporters of the ‘
’ project who are fighting to keep the memory of these atrocities alive. On the pretext of combating drugs, a war is being waged against the civilian population,. This plan provides direct support to the murderers, by which I mean the paramilitary groups, that have already killed over 150 people since the start of the year and whose close links with the army are obvious. Moreover, on no account can the European Union sanction the lack of democracy or legitimacy evident at the signing of this agreement between the American and Colombian Governments. The European Union and the Member States should not cooperate with this plan; they should oppose it, as do the NGOs and local social movements. There is no question of sharing the responsibility with America. Responsibility for what? Millions of deaths? Can we accept Plan Colombia? I support the view of the Committee on Development and Cooperation. We shall, therefore, vote in favour of this resolution which, far from recommending arms donations, proposes quite the opposite approach, i.e. to encourage scaling down armed conflict, to fight the association of the military and paramilitary groups, to show respect for those working in defence of human rights and to improve the living conditions of the population in conjunction with social movements, rather than against them. Holding talks is the way to achieve peace, not waging war."@en1
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