English/Español: Rubio to President: You Must Do More to Support the Colombian Government
Press Release
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging his administration to support the Colombian government as it seeks to contain and mitigate the destabilizing impact that drug-related conflict has on both Colombia and the Western Hemisphere as a whole. Rubio's letter comes after fighting broke out between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and dissident elements of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Colombia's Arauca and Norte de Santander provinces earlier this month.
In November 2021, Rubio warned that "the Biden Administration's decision to remove the FARC from the Foreign Terrorist Organization list risks emboldening narcoterrorists and the regimes that sponsor them throughout our region."
"I urge your administration to maintain and strengthen the United States' longstanding commitment to, and mutually beneficial relationship with, the Republic of Colombia in the coming years," Rubio wrote. "This should include exploring what additional support the United States can provide to Colombia's military and law enforcement bodies to prevent future violence; preserve the integrity of Colombia's elections from outside interference; and ensuring that U.S. international assistance does not benefit current or former members of terrorist organizations that further the violence. Our nation's unwavering support to Colombia should not be a partisan cause."
Rubio further discussed the deteriorating security situation in the region in an op-ed for Colombia's El Tiempo, noting that "the outcome of the upcoming presidential elections [in Colombia] will also impact our nation as a whole. Further instability in the Western Hemisphere will only lead to more drugs, illegal immigration, and chaos making their way into the U.S."
Rubio is the Ranking Member of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women's Issues.
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