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Bush plans deep cuts to Andean drug war budget
02.18.07|washingtontimes.com

President Bush's new budget calls for deep cuts in the leading U.S. program to fight drug trafficking in the Andean region, amid growing clashes over drug policy between Washington and leftist governments in Venezuela and Bolivia.
The cuts to the Andean Counterdrug Initiative (ACI) affect every country in the region except Colombia. They have been criticized by governments in the area, as well as by U.S. counternarcotics officials and some lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
"It would be the largest across-the-board reduction in aid since the War on Drugs began," said one U.S. diplomatic official, who asked not to be named.
The ACI was designed to help local efforts to reduce the flow of illegal drugs, which surged in the late 1980s when cocaine production skyrocketed and powerful drug cartels emerged.
The ACI would receive $442.8 million under the fiscal 2008 budget that Mr. Bush submitted to Congress earlier this month, down 23 percent from the estimated spending for the current fiscal year and off nearly 40 percent from $727.2 million in fiscal 2006. The largest percentage cuts would be in Peru and Bolivia, which remain major producers of coca.
More than $2 million in anti-drug aid budgeted for Venezuela in fiscal 2007 was never spent as American officials feuded with populist anti-U.S. President Hugo Chavez over counternarcotics policy. Venezuela would get no ACI money in the new budget.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro criticized the cuts, but told reporters in Caracas earlier this month that his country would not bend to U.S. "blackmail."
The Bush budget also proposed a sharp cut in ACI funds to Bolivia, where leftist President Evo Morales, a close Chavez ally, has announced a major increase in the amount of land set aside for legal coca production. Bolivia would receive $30 million in ACI money in fiscal 2008, down from almost $80 million in fiscal 2006.
Hugo Acha, a Bolivian legal consultant on drug policy, said, "There is no point in the U.S. giving aid if the objectives are not being met. The war on drugs appears to have become a mere formality."
But Ecuador's Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa warned that the cuts will be seen as a punishment for countries in the region that elect governments that clash with Washington.
Even Peru, which has good relations with the United States, is facing a cutback.
Peruvian Prime Minister Jorge del Castillo said in an interview, "Peru should receive more aid rather than having it cut, in view of the magnitude of the problem we face, which is equal to Colombia."

 

Buzzby

Since when did not giving someone money constitute "blackmail"? If I choose to shop at Convenient rather than 7-11 am I "blackmailing" 7-11?

No shit, Sherlock! How much money do you give to your enemies?

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sterbo

"Blackmail" - definition = "the felonious act of extorting money (as by threats of violence)" or
"Tribute formerly paid to freebooters along the Scottish border for protection from pillage."
Judging from our current administration's modus operandi not only in this region but accross the globe then Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro's statement is true ( whatever your political persuasion).


No shit, Sherlock! How much money do you give to your enemies?[/quote]

Ecuador's Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa's point is that the people of the region will see this as "a punishment for countries in the region that elect governments that clash with Washington".
They, of course, are all too aware of the incredible duplicity with which we employ our proxies in the region - i.e. right wing paramilitary groups - to shore up our exploitation of natural resources (think oil and gas) at the expense of the indigenous people...
It''s no wonder our continued moral bankruptcy continues to ignite the flames who's 'Phoenix' will be either a totalitarian world order dictated by the U.S (and those who don't succumb to our blackmail) or an existence whereby we have all learned to respect and share and Yes, to truly love one another...

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sterbo

Last post?

Swabeky

It might be blackmail by definition, and it might be wrong to stop funding them, but that is how politics works. whats the benefit for the USA if we give money to a country that doesn;t do what we want? It's wrong, but thats how the world works.

 

Buzzby

Huh? How does discontinuing voluntary aid constitute "extorting money"? It looks to me like you are contradicting yourself.

And now we return you to your regularly scheduled reality... How about an economic hegemony controlled by China? That seems to be the direction in which the world is headed. I remember when the world was going to be ruled by Love and Brotherhood. I think it was called "Woodstock".