Obama pledges more than $450 million aid to help Colombia peace plan
By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Thursday he would ask the U.S. Congress for more than $450 million in aid to help Colombia end “half a century of wrenching conflict” and implement a peace accord aimed at ending Latin America's longest war. If approved, the aid would help with security and fighting the drug trade, as well as educating and retraining members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the leftist rebel group at war with the government since 1964. “After half a century of wrenching conflict, the time has come for peace,” Obama said after meeting with Colombian President Juan Manual Santos.