The article below was written by IWP alumna Christine Balling and published in The National Interest.
President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos at the White House on May 18. The subject of their conversation will undoubtedly have a great deal to do with the peace accord concluded last fall between the Santos government and Colombia’s most notorious guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
During his time in office, President Obama became a major booster of the peace talks, and successfully enlisted Congress in his cause. Now, having been approved on Capitol Hill, the $450 million U.S. aid package intended to support “Peace Colombia” is likely to be approved by President Trump as well. That is a pity, because — while President Trump’s signing of the bill is not likely to upset the average U.S. taxpayer — a presidential veto would at least force a Republican-controlled Congress to reexamine why it is partially underwriting extraordinarily generous concessions the Santos administration made in order to make peace with a virulently anti-United States narco-terrorist organization.