By Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P] .
Colombia will receive $461 million in aid from the U.S. government in 2022 after the House Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee approves a bill to do so. However, the support will for the first time be conditional on resources going to the Colombian police.
The U.S. government made it clear that from now on, if the law is passed, 30 percent of all counter-narcotics resources that reach the South American country's police will depend on a certification from the State Department confirming that the country is investigating and punishing uniformed personnel implicated in human rights violations.
After the demonstrations that began in April of this year in Colombia, international organizations reported massive human rights violations by the Colombian police against the demonstrators.
According to Temblores, an NGO that has been in charge of registering and documenting police violence practices through its platform "GRITA" and in assisting victims and connecting them with the administration of justice through "Policarpa", as of June 16, 4,285 cases of violence by the security forces were identified, not including cases of disappearances.
Meanwhile, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights reported on Wednesday that it found "serious human rights violations" during the demonstrations against the government of Iván Duque.
It should be noted that the conditioning of resources in aid to Colombia is not new, as this condition already existed for the army, but the restrictions are now extended to the police force.
The condition that the U.S. government is seeking to impose on the resources states that at least US$65 million cannot be delivered until certification is issued by the U.S. Department of State.
It is important to detail that 80 percent of these resources -$52 million- would be for the police and 20 percent for the army.
According to the media El Tiempo, almost since the beginning of Plan Colombia in 2000, the resources for the Army had been subject to Human Rights evaluations. Requirements that grew with the scandal of false positives and illegal interceptions of journalists, human rights defenders, members of the high courts and congressmen.
In a congressional hearing held last Thursday, José Miguel Vivanco, director for the Americas at Human Rights WatchThe President of the Republic, asked the congressmen to approve the new restriction on funding for the police.
For her part, Colombian Vice President and Foreign Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez, who is in New York, said Thursday that she sees no reason why the social upheaval and recent protests that led to violence in her country should harm the relationship with the United States.
"We see no reason for bilateral relations to be affected," the foreign minister said during a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
"This is a Congress -the U.S. Congress- that has been permanently monitoring Colombia's evolution. Thanks to all this help and the confidence of Congress and the different U.S. administrations, our country has been able to face very tough challenges and, among other things, has also managed to work for the poorest, reduce the level of poverty.... fight drug trafficking, and strengthen the institutional framework", said Ramirez.
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