The president of the Sub-Committee on Appropriations for Foreign Operations Mario Diaz-Balart announced this Friday his decision to “defer” all the aid that is being contemplated to support Colombia in fiscal year 2024, which begins in October of this year.
According to Diaz-Balart, he made that decision because he mistrusts the path the country has taken since President Gustavo Petro came to power.
The congressman, who is from the Republican party and leads this committee, made his announcement by presenting the budget project for Foreign Operations for the year 2024, which is where almost all the funds directed to the country are included.
¨Now, let me go to Colombia. The importance of the US partnership with Colombia cannot be underestimated. For decades, the United States has partnered with the people of Colombia and has supported them in building a prosperous and stable democracy, and I have been one of the strongest defenders of those efforts,” the legislator began by saying, to then harden the tone.
“Unfortunately,” he stated, “Colombia’s current trajectory under the leadership of President Petro is increasingly at odds with the economic and security interests of the United States.” Therefore, I have decided to defer the financing for Colombia. Due to the strong and historical relationship between the people of the United States and Colombia, as well as the Colombian Armed Forces and Police, the Committee will continue to evaluate the actions of the Petro Government as this appropriation process progresses. I sincerely hope that more favorable actions in the future will allow us to move forward in strengthening our long-standing partnership with Colombia.”
In the draft of the project, to which this newspaper had access, there is no mention of new resources for the country.
This draft, in any case, is only the beginning of the appropriations process in the US Congress. The project will have to be discussed by the Appropriations Commission in plenary and then, if approved, it would go to the plenary. At the same time, the Senate – which is controlled by Democrats – will advance its own allocation process.
Once both are approved, a conciliation commission would be appointed to iron out the differences. In other words, the funds for Colombia could be restored by the Senate or in the necessary phases in the House of Representatives.
In any case, it is the first time since Plan Colombia was approved in 2000 that such a drastic decision has been made.
In an exclusive interview with EL TIEMPO in March of this year, Diaz-Balart had already anticipated a similar maneuver by declaring himself very concerned about the supposed deterioration of Colombian democracy and the relationship of the Petro government with the Nicolás Maduro regime in Venezuela and others. .
“What worries me is this. There is a very close relationship with Colombia for the exchange of communications, of very sensitive things, of intelligence information, and I have to feel comfortable that this exchange is not being distributed to the enemies of democracy. There are a lot of things we’re looking at that we’re not talking about publicly yet but that’s part of the conversations I’m having with Blinken. And when that law is presented (he presented it this Friday) we are going to have to look for alternatives that allow the American people to feel calm that the relationship persists and that we are putting sensitive communication or information at risk that is being shared with them and that Colombia is protecting the rule of law and the basic freedoms of its citizens”, Díaz Balart said at the time.
SERGIO GOMEZ MASERI
TIME CORRESPONDENT
WASHINGTON
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