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1 1 (June 14, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govelya0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional ____ A ~Research Service Colombia: Issues for the 118th Congress June 14, 2023 Colombia historically has been atop U.S. ally and close security partner. Colombia's prominence in illegal drug production prompted the United States to forge close counter-drug ties with Colombia and became the basis in 2000 for Plan Colombia, a U.S.-Colombian program focused on counternarcotics and later counterterrorism. Over 22 years, the United States allocated almost $14 billion to Plan Colombia and its successor strategies, which broadened to focus on human rights, trade, sustainable development, and regional security. These programs-particularly security initiatives-have had support in Congress and across the past five U.S. presidential administrations. The 118h Congress may assess the extent to which Colombia's current administration under Gustavo Petro, the country's first leftist president, remains committed to the bilateral partnership and long-standing U.S. security goals. Such assessments could influence congressional decisions regarding the amount and type of foreign assistance appropriated for Colombia and whether to attach legislative conditions to such assistance. New Direction Under President Petro Some observers anticipated a shift in bilateral relations with the June 2022 election of Petro, a former leftist guerrilla, an opposition legislator for nearly 20 years, and the former mayor of Bogoti. Petro has been an outspoken critic of human rights abuses by Colombia's security forces during the years of close U.S. cooperation under Plan Colombia and its successors. In his campaign, Petro pledged to fully implement the 2016 peace accord signed with Colombia's largest insurgent and drug-trafficking group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC); progress in the peace process had slowed under President Ivin Duque (2018-2022). During his first 100 days in office, President Petro criticized the current approach to the drug war, including a decades-long U.S.- Colombia effort that prioritized eradication and aerial spraying of coca. He also reestablished diplomatic relations and reopened the border for trade with neighboring Venezuela after seven years of closures. He opened peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN), a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist group, and presently Colombia's largest insurgent threat. Colombia's congress approved Petro's 2023 budget in late 2022 and his four-year development plan in early May 2023. Such measures are key to funding Petro's ambitious domestic reforms and implementing his banner Total Peace program-an effort to end violence by remaining insurgent groups and other criminal armed actors and to restore security to rural areas of Colombia. Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov IN12180 CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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