Human Rights Call to Cut Off Colombian Military Aid

The Foreign Office has examined the possibility of cutting off military aid to Colombia in response to mounting political opposition among trade unions and backbench MPs.

More than 210 MPs, predominantly Labour members but many from the other main parties, have signed an early day motion put down by the former Labour Foreign Office minister Tony Lloyd, condemning Britain's involvement and calling for security assistance to be frozen.

The motion claims that many of the 184 trade unionists killed in Colombia in 2002 died at the hands of rightwing paramilitary groups "which have documented links to the state security forces".

Bill Rammell, minister with responsibility for Latin America, confirmed: "The whole issue [of military involvement] has been discussed within the Foreign Office. But I think it would be wrong to stop such cooperation. It would leave vulnerable the people most at risk."

The Colombian government, headed by Alvaro Uribe, was a democratically elected government with high approval ratings, said Mr Rammell. The minister returned from a visit to the capital, Bogotá, and the country's Choco province 10 days ago.

The Foreign Office minister was accompanied by Rory Murphy, a senior TUC official and joint general secretary of the finance union Unifi. They warned the authorities in Bogotá, Mr Rammell said, that Colombia should listen to criticisms from Amnesty International.

The Colombian government is attempting to re-establish control over large swaths of the country which have long been under the control of leftwing rebels and rightwing paramilitaries, both funded by the illegal cocaine industry.

"We should be supporting the bringing of order," Mr Rammell said. "There has been progress in improving the human rights situation. There is evidence that collusion [between the security forces and paramilitaries] is decreasing. In the last six months there's been action where police officers and members of the armed forces have been arrested and tried ... We need to see more of that."

There was a committment to more transparency about military aid, he added.

Some UK officers have given anti-terrorist advice on defusing mines and protecting police stations against the bombs used by the rebel group Farc.

Critics of the government's involvement, such as the group Justice for Colombia, maintain that British experts helped upgrade the Colombian security forces' intelligence gathering systems.

The strength of political opposition has been greater than anticipated. The fact that President Bush is a close ally of Mr Uribe has inevitably made many backbenchers MPs suspicious of Britain's commitment. The Justice for Colombia campaign says it now has the support of 500 affiliated trade union branches and regions.