World crisis may prompt Colombia aid cuts-US envoy

[Judi Lynn]

World crisis may prompt Colombia aid cuts-US envoy
Fri Oct 17, 2008 10:36pm BST
By Patrick Markey

BOGOTA, Oct 17 (Reuters) - The global financial crisis will pressure U.S. lawmakers to cut a multibillion-dollar Colombian aid package that has helped the government counter Marxist rebels, the U.S. ambassador to Bogota said on Friday.

The envoy's remarks were the first signal of how the worldwide credit turmoil could impact the $600 million a year Colombia receives from Washington to fight FARC guerrillas and attack the cocaine trade that helps fuel the conflict.

Violence has ebbed and foreign investment has flooded in as guerrillas are battered by military assaults. U.S. lawmakers have already trimmed some aid and Democrats controlling the U.S. Congress now want more focus on economic development.

"The U.S. Congress wants to reduce your aid. The pressure from the financial and economic crisis will increase that demand," U.S. envoy William Brownfield said in Bogota. "I don't see an elimination of our aid, but a gradual reduction."

More:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUKN17459753._CH_.2420?rpc=401&

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