EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A HISTORIC TIME IN COLOMBIA’S QUEST TO CONQUER TERRORISM AND NARCO-TRAFFICKING AND TO REGAIN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL STABILITY AND PROSPERITY
This is a historic period in Colombia’s national quest for peace, economic and social stability; and a historic time in its bilateral relationship with the United States. Colombia’s new President, Alvaro Uribe has marked his first year in office with an aggressive expansion of the government’s campaign against narco-terrorism. He is bringing an integrated focus to solving narcotics, security, economic, human rights and social development problems. He is giving new hope to the nation, and enjoys the unprecedented confidence of the great majority of the Colombian people, The United States is Colombia’s strategic partner in this effort, providing almost three billion dollars in what is now the third largest bilateral assistance program in the world, after Egypt and Israel in support of the “Andean Regional Initiative”.

The counter-terrorist, counter-narcotics commitment of the Colombian government, and its U.S. and other allies, is based on the premise that the country cannot achieve its potential without peace, which, in turn, depends upon breaking the financial linkage between narcotics traffickers and terrorists -- and that it is of global interest that Colombia do so.

The world attitude toward terrorists since the September 11 attacks on the U.S. has transformed attitudes about Colombia’s long-standing internal conflicts. Previously characterized by the media as “freedom fighters” engaged in a long-running “civil war” (with accompanying implications of legitimacy), the FARC, ELN and Paramilitaries now have been officially designated by the State Department and the European Union as terrorist organizations, devoted almost exclusively to narco-trafficking, kidnapping and extortion of innocent Colombian civilians. The U.S. government has given full certification to Colombia for narcotics cooperation since 1999.

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INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT, U.S. & FOREIGN COMMERCIAL SERVICE AND U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 2003. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES.

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