Foreword
Our country’s relations with Colombia entered a new phase in 2000, when President Clinton proposed, and Congress approved, a major expansion of U.S. aid, including an increase in military equipment and training to help the Colombian government fight leftist guerrillas involved in narcotics trafficking.Colombia has been plagued by civil war for over 40 years. Two large rebel groups — the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the smaller National Liberation Army (ELN) — together control nearly 40 percent of the country. They fund their operations by taxing drug traffickers and by kidnapping people and collecting ransom payments.Although the United…
