Pubdate: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 Source: Austin American-Statesman (TX) Copyright: 2000 Austin American-Statesman Contact: P. O. Box 670 Austin, Texas 78767 Fax: 512-445-3679 Website: http://www.austin360.com/statesman/editions/today/ Author: Roger Tilson NO HELP FOR COLOMBIA Please encourage your representatives to eliminate aid to the Colombian military. This aid is immoral and counter-productive. Despite increases in anti-narcotic military aid, drug exports from Colombia increased 26 percent in 1999. Why? Because military groups terrorize peasants, who then flee to rural areas where transportation is poor. They grow coca because it won't rot before they get it to market. All groups in Colombia traffic drugs. The drug war is a smoke screen for our own governing elite who want cut-rate deals on oil and on-time loan payments. We should not support massacres because it's good for business. ROGER TILSON, Austin - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck