Weekly Report - 15 July 2003

It now appears that Colombia will lose even less US military aid than expected. On 8 July the State Department certified to the US Congress that Colombia had met the human rights standards set by the legislature, and that in consequence it will be receiving US$31.6% of this year's US$252m programme. 

This, State underlined, is unaffected by the military aid cut-off due to non-signing of a bilateral agreement shielding suspected US war criminals from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC). That means that Colombia might yet get another US$31.6m if it passes the second human rights test this year. 

Meanwhile, the Colombian judicial system seems to be determined to test Washington. The chief prosecutor's office has asked the US to find and deliver three US airmen suspected of having been responsible for a 1998 aerial bombing that killed 17 civilians. The Colombian air force pilots who dropped the cluster bomb say that they were given the coordinates by these privately-contracted US crew members.