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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Hastert: Pastrana Didn't Have A Plan B Against the F.A.R.C. |
| 2004-08-30 |
| House Speaker Dennis Hastert says that former Colombian President Andrés Pastrana didn't have a "plan B" to deal with the F.A.R.C. guerrillas. Hastert, one of the most influential politicians in the country, says that the former Colombian leader worked in good faith on the failed negotiations. Hastert just published a book in which he dedicates some passages to his memories of dealings with Colombia. Hastert remembers in detail his meeting in July of 1998 in which Pastrana came to try and sell him the idea of negotiating with the insurgent group. "Andres Pastrana, President-elect of Colombia said they had a plan to end the war that had plagued his country for more than thirty years. I met with him both in Colombia & in the Capitol. In one of those meetings he put some big maps on my office desk in Washington. While he gesticulated over the maps he told me that he had a plan to designate a small part of Colombia-the size of Switzerland-as a demilitarized zone in which the rebels would be able to move around without fear of arrest. Once he invited them to the negotiating table, he said the negotiations would start and the conflict would end. When he finished his presentation I asked him: And what is your "plan B?" Unfortunately he didn't have a "plan B," says Hastert in his book. According to the Speaker, "Pastrana didn't seem to understand that the rebels that fill their pockets every year with hundreds of millions of dollars in drug money would never go to the negotiating table if they weren't militarily pressured." These revelations are relevant because they show that Washington never had much faith in the peace process with the F.A.R.C. Indeed in spite of the fact that Europeans, Asians & Latin Americans supported the plan from the beginning, Washington, Colombia's main ally, seemed slow to accept the plan & remained distant. |
| Posted by:Kentucky Beef |
| #1 I think "Plan B" in Columbia involves lot's of cash and a plane ticket to Miami. |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-08-30 4:38:58 PM |