NEWS
House Foreign Affairs Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Republican
CONTACT:
Sam Stratman, (202) 226-7875, June 6, 2007
Lee Cohen,
(202) 226-1139
For
IMMEDIATE Release
Ros-Lehtinen to Meet Thursday with Colombian President
Uribe
“Without an effective counter-narcotics strategy in
the Western Hemisphere, the number of U.S. deaths from overdose and
drug-related killings will rise”
(WASHINGTON) – In a
meeting scheduled Thursday with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, U.S. Rep.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) said today that she intends to focus attention on
ways to ensure Congressional passage of the Free Trade Agreement between the
two countries and on ways to combat narco-terrorism.
Ros-Lehtinen,
who traveled to Colombia in
May, said that Congressional critics of Colombia are attempting to reduce
funding for counter-narcotics and counter-terrorism efforts in the South
American nation, and scuttle the long-anticipated Free Trade Agreement.
The visit
by President Uribe to Washington comes in the
wake of an improving security situation in Colombia
seven years into the U.S.-Colombia Andean initiative, known as Plan Colombia.
“Since
1999, Colombia
has dramatically reduced the widespread, drug-fueled violence that brought the
country close to anarchy. What has been achieved by Colombians with assistance
from the U.S.
is nothing short of remarkable,” said Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Republican on the
House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Ros-Lehtinen
also noted that Colombia is
now providing counter-narcotics training to police in Afghanistan.
Thursday’s
meeting will also include Former Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and U.S. Rep.
Roy Blunt (R-MO). Along with Ros-Lehtinen and others, the group is expected to
lead GOP efforts to enact the Free Trade Agreement and protect adequate funding
levels for Plan Colombia.
An
estimated 90 percent of the cocaine and 50 percent of the heroin consumed here
is produced in Colombia
– a country now entering the fourth decade of a murderous conflict pitting the
central government against drug traffickers and their allies.
“Allowing
critics to hold hostage the pending Free Trade Agreement with Colombia will undermine Colombia’s efforts to build a new economy and
could trigger the downward spiral of America’s
closest ally in South America,” said
Ros-Lehtinen. “Without an effective counter-narcotics strategy, the number of U.S. deaths
from overdose and drug-related killings will rise, and the floodgate of
narcotics will open even wider with a deluge of heroin and cocaine aimed
squarely at our kids.”
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