Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is correct that Colombia needs land reform. It needs a better economy. It needs to address the human rights abuses. Plan Colombia deals with two aspects; a military component and a social development component.
The unfortunate thing in the real politik of Colombia is that the vast majority of the land area is controlled by guerrillas from the FARC and the ELN as well as paramilitaries and drug lords. Part of the problem is that, with the lack of control the government has from a military perspective, these guerrillas, paramilitaries, narcoterrorists and cartels are allowed to massacre civilian populations in the surrounding area.
Currently the Bogota government in Colombia does not have the military capability to do that. My personal view, not that of the Alliance, is to support Plan Colombia, including the military component, for the simple reason that the military component has to get control over the country. It has to defeat the paramilitaries that are basically thugs with weapons.
It is very important that national verifiers go along with the Colombian army to ensure that it is not engaging in human rights abuses and in collusion with the paramilitaries. They are doing that in some areas, which is completely unacceptable. If we verify this and allow the Colombian government to get control over its area in a multifactorial approach with other trade issues, then we will be able to ensure that Colombia secures peace.