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Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential campaign launched this Monday a fierce defense of the former vice president’s record against Colombia, accusing Donald Trump of wanting to cut resources for the country and even attack current president Iván Duque for doing nothing to reduce the flow of drugs to the United States.
“Joe Biden’s support for Colombia is unquestionable. As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and in his role as Vice Chairman, was instrumental in gaining bipartisan support for Plan Colombia and was even given the highest decoration in Colombia –The Order of Boyacá– for their efforts to promote security, prosperity, transparency and human rights in the country, “Kevin Muñoz, spokesman for the Biden campaign, told this newspaper.
(You may be interested in: Trump puts Colombia in his re-election campaign with attack on Petro)
Joe Biden and Donald Trump couldn’t be more different when it comes to delivering for the Colombian people
According to Muñoz, Trump, by contrast, “has tried to cut US support for Colombia every year since he took office. and he even said that Colombia had done nothing to help the United States fight drug trafficking. Joe Biden and Donald Trump couldn’t be more different when it comes to delivering for the Colombian people. “
The backlash comes after Trump accused Biden last week, during a campaign event in Florida, of having “surrendered” to narco-terrorism by supporting the peace agreement signed by former President Juan Manuel Santos with the Farc.
(Read also: ‘Trump lies about Colombia, his attacks are laughable’)
He also reiterated that Biden was a “socialist” because he received the support of Senator Gustavo Petro. Faced with this accusation, which is ongoing especially in Florida, where the vote of Hispanics is key, bien has said that he has nothing extreme left and that, on the contrary, to win the candidacy of the Democratic Party he had to defeat Bernie Sanders, the senator from Vermont who is known for her socialist ideas.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump.
It is true, as Muñoz says in the statement he sent to this newspaper, that since Trump became president he has tried to cut the aid that the United States gives the country annually.
At the beginning of each year, the incumbent president submits to Congress his spending budget for the following year.
In 2017, 2018, and 2019 Trump suggested to the Legislature a cut of almost 30 percent of the resources that had been given to the country in previous years. That is, from about US $ 400 million before 2016 to less than US $ 300 million. The country ended up receiving roughly the same figure (roughly $ 400 million or more) because Congress, acting in a bipartisan manner, decided to ignore the cut requested by Trump and restored the aid.
(Read also: Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s first public ’round’)
In this 2020, Trump raised his request to US $ 410 million to spend in the country next year. But that figure is in itself lower than the one approved in July by the House of Representatives – controlled by Democrats – and which is US $ 457 million by 2021.
Muñoz’s reference to Trump’s attacks on Duque are from last year (2019), when the US President said that Duque, despite being “a good guy … has done nothing for us because more drugs are coming out of Colombia now than before he was president.”
(You may be interested in: Trump refuses to commit to a peaceful handover of power)
Since then, Trump’s tone towards the Colombian President has been improving and last week, in Florida, credited him for helping curb the entry of hundreds of tons of coca into the United States
Biden, as Muñoz says, was one of the congressmen who pushed the most for the approval of Plan Colombia in 2000, when he was in the Senate and Bill Clinton was president.
In 2016, Santos awarded him the Cruz de Boyacá for his commitment to Colombia over the decades and for his support of the peace accords.
That year, the Obama and Biden administrations announced the creation of Paz Colombia, a strategy with emphasis on the implementation of the agreements and for which they asked Congress for US $ 450 million.
(Read also: The battle between Biden and Trump for the Hispanic vote)
Trump, for his part, has been paying more interest to the country so far this year. Something that was reflected in the creation of a recent initiative that they called Colombia Crece and that offers US $ 5 billion in loans to investors who want to invest in development projects in conflict zones.
Unlike the aid that Congress approves annually – and which is hard cash – lThe credits depend on the appearance of investors from the United States wanting to bet on the country.
SERGIO GÓMEZ MASERI
EL TIEMPO correspondent
Washington
On Twitter: @ sergom68
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