Five British Members of Parliament “wholeheartedly” welcome the
suspension of aid to Colombia’s military, they wrote to UK newspaper
the Guardian Thursday.
According to the MP’s, who all recently visited Colombia, “the Colombian military is responsible for widespread and systematic human rights abuses and the situation shows no signs of improving.”
The parliamentarians “remain deeply concerned that it [the UK] continues to supply secret and
unconditional counter-narcotics assistance to unspecified units of the
Colombian army. There can be no guarantees that this aid is not
reaching those who abuse human rights and we urge the Foreign Office to
immediately freeze all assistance to the Colombian Army.”
Instead, the MPs would like to see aid for the victims of Colombia’s 44-year-old violent conflict.
The UK ended aid to the Colombian military earlier this year, but said it would continue to provide Colombia with aid.