Plan Colombia - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The term Plan Colombia is most often used to refer to U.S. legislation aimed at curbing drug smuggling and combating a left-wing insurgency

Insurgency

An insurgency is an armed rebellion against a constituted authority when those taking part in the rebellion are not recognized as belligerents...

by supporting different activities in Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

.

Plan Colombia can also refer to a wider aid initiative originally proposed by Colombian President

President

A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...

Andrés Pastrana Arango

Andrés Pastrana Arango was the President of Colombia from 1998 to 2002, following in the footsteps of his father, Misael Pastrana, who was president from 1970 to 1974.-Early years:...

, which included U.S. military/counter-narcotics aid, but was not limited to it. The plan was conceived between 1998 and 1999 by the administration of Pastrana with the goals of ending the Colombian armed conflict

Colombian Armed Conflict

The Colombian armed conflict or Colombian Civil War are terms that are employed to refer to the current asymmetric low-intensity armed conflict in Colombia that has existed since approximately 1964 or 1966, between the Colombian government and peasant guerrillas such as the Revolutionary Armed...

and creating an anti-cocaine

Cocaine

Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...

strategy.

Critics of the initiative also claimed that elements within the Colombian security forces, which received aid and training from the U.S., were involved in supporting or tolerating abuses by right-wing paramilitary

Paramilitary

A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....

forces against left-wing guerrilla organizations and their sympathizers. Another controversial element of the anti-narcotic strategy is aerial fumigation

Fumigation

Fumigation is a method of pest control that completely fills an area with gaseous pesticides—or fumigants—to suffocate or poison the pests within. It is utilized for control of pests in buildings , soil, grain, and produce, and is also used during processing of goods to be imported or...

to eradicate coca

Coca eradication

Coca eradication is a controversial strategy strongly promoted by the United States government starting in 1961 as part of its "War on Drugs" to eliminate the cultivation of coca, a plant whose leaves are not only traditionally used by indigenous cultures but also, in modern society, in the...

. This activity has come under fire because it damages legal crops and has adverse health effects upon those exposed to the herbicide

Herbicide

Herbicides, also commonly known as weedkillers, are pesticides used to kill unwanted plants. Selective herbicides kill specific targets while leaving the desired crop relatively unharmed. Some of these act by interfering with the growth of the weed and are often synthetic "imitations" of plant...

Original Plan Colombia

The original version of Plan Colombia was officially unveiled by President Andres Pastrana in 1999. Pastrana had first proposed the idea of a possible "Marshall Plan

Marshall Plan

The Marshall Plan was the large-scale American program to aid Europe where the United States gave monetary support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II in order to combat the spread of Soviet communism. The plan was in operation for four years beginning in April 1948...

for Colombia" during a speech at Bogotá's Tequendama Hotel on June 8, 1998, nearly a week after the first round of that year's presidential elections. Pastrana argued that:

"[Drug crops are] a social problem whose solution must pass through the solution to the armed conflict...Developed countries should help us to implement some sort of 'Marshall Plan' for Colombia, which will allow us to develop great investments in the social field, in order to offer our peasants different alternatives to the illicit crops."

After Pastrana was inaugurated, one of the names given to the initiative at this early stage was "Plan for Colombia's Peace", which President Pastrana defined as "a set of alternative development projects which will channel the shared efforts of multilateral organizations and [foreign] governments towards Colombian society". Pastrana's Plan Colombia, as originally presented, did not focus on drug trafficking, military aid, or fumigation, but instead emphasized the manual eradication of drug crops as a better alternative. According to author Doug Stokes, one of the earlier versions of the plan called for an estimated 55 per cent military aid and 45 percent developmental aid.

During an August 3, 1998 meeting, President Pastrana and U.S. President Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

discussed the possibility of "securing an increase in U.S. aid for counternarcotics projects, sustainable economic development, the protection of human rights, humanitarian aid, stimulating private investment, and joining other donors and international financial institutions to promote Colombia's economic growth". Diplomatic contacts regarding this subject continued during the rest of the year and into 1999.

For President Pastrana, it became necessary to create an official document that specifically "served to convene important U.S. aid, as well as that of other countries and international organizations" by adequately addressing US concerns. The Colombian government also considered that it had to patch up a bilateral relationship that had heavily deteriorated during the previous administration of President Ernesto Samper (1994–1998). According to Pastrana, Under Secretary of State Thomas R. Pickering

Thomas R. Pickering

Thomas Reeve "Tom" Pickering , is a retired United States ambassador. Among his many diplomatic appointments, he served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 1989 to 1992.-Early life:...

eventually suggested that, initially, the U.S. could be able to commit to providing aid over a three year period, as opposed to continuing with separate yearly packages.

As a result of these contacts, US input was extensive, and meant that Plan Colombia's first formal draft was originally written in English, not Spanish, and a Spanish version was not available until "months after a revised English version was already in place".

Critics and observers have referred to the differences between the earliest versions of Plan Colombia and later drafts. Originally, the focus was on achieving peace and ending violence, within the context of the ongoing peace talks that Pastrana's government was then holding with the FARC guerrillas, following the principle that the country's violence had "deep roots in the economic exclusion and...inequality and poverty".

The final version of Plan Colombia was seen as considerably different, since its main focuses would deal with drug trafficking and strengthening the military. When this final version was debated on the U.S. Senate floor, Joseph Biden spoke as a leading advocate of the more hardline strategy.

Ambassador Robert White stated:

"If you read the original Plan Colombia, not the one that was written in Washington but the original Plan Colombia, there's no mention of military drives against the FARC rebels. Quite the contrary. (President Pastrana) says the FARC is part of the history of Colombia and a historical phenomenon, he says, and they must be treated as Colombians...[Colombia] come and ask for bread and you (America) give them stones."

In the final U.S. aid package, 78.12 percent of the funds for 2000 went to the Colombian military and police for counternarcotics and military operations. (See graph, below)

President Pastrana admitted that most of the resulting US aid to Colombia was overwhelmingly focused on the military and on counternarcotics (68%), but argued that this was only some 17% of the total amount of estimated Plan Colombia aid. The rest, focusing mostly on social development, would be provided by international organizations, Europe, Japan, Canada, Latin America, and Colombia itself. In light of this, Pastrana considered that the Plan had been unfairly labeled as "militarist" by national and international critics that focused only on the US contribution.

Financing

U.S. Aid to Colombia, 1996-2006 (including non-Plan Colombia aid) http://www.ciponline.org/facts/0512eras.pdf
Last updated 11/11/05 In millions	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005 (est)	2006 (req)
Military/Police	54.15	88.56	112.44	309.18	765.49	242.97	401.93	620.98	555.07	641.60	641.15
Economic/Social	0.62	0.00	0.52	8.75	214.31	5.65	120.30	136.70	134.98	131.29	138.52
% Military	99.88	100	99.53	97.42	78.12	97.72	76.96	81.95	80.43	83.01	82.23

This original plan called for a budget of US$7.5 billion, with 51% dedicated to institutional and social development, 32% for fighting the drug trade

Drug trade

Drug trade may refer to:* Illegal drug trade, the manufacture and sale of illicit psychoactive substances* Pharmaceutical industry, the manufacture and sale of medical treatment chemicals...

, 16% for economic and social revitalization, and 0.8% to support the then on-going effort to negotiate a political solution to the state's conflict with insurgent guerrilla

Guerrilla warfare

Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...

groups. Pastrana initially pledged US$4.864 billion of Colombian resources (65% of the total) and called on the international community to provide the remaining US$2.636 billion (35%).

In 2000, the Clinton

Bill Clinton

administration in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

supported the initiative by committing $1.3 billion in foreign aid and up to five hundred military

Military

A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

personnel to train local forces. An additional three hundred civilian

Civilian

A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces or other militia. Civilians are distinct from combatants. They are afforded a degree of legal protection from the effects of war and military occupation...

personnel were allowed to assist in the eradication of coca. This aid was an addition to US$330 million of previously approved US aid to Colombia. US$818 million was earmarked for 2000, with US$256 million for 2001. These appropriations for the plan made Colombia the third largest recipient of foreign aid from the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

at the time. However, it was not until President George W. Bush did aid to Colombia shrink in the percent earmarked for military aid vs. humanitarian aid.

Colombia sought additional support from the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

and other countries, with the intention of financing the mostly social component of the original plan. Some would-be donors were reluctant to cooperate, as they considered that the US-approved aid represented an undue military slant, and additionally lacked the will to spend such amounts of money for what they considered an uncertain initiative.

Initially, some of these countries donated approximately US $128.6 million dollars (in one year), which was 2.3% of the resulting total. Larger amounts, in some instances up to several hundred million dollars, were also donated to Colombia and continued to be provided either directly or through loans and access to credit lines, but technically fell outside the framework of Plan Colombia. "European countries provide economic and social development funds but do not consider them to be in support of Plan Colombia." In any case, the sums raised fell well short of what was originally called for. In addition, Colombia's eventual contribution was less than planned due in part to a 1999-2001 economic crisis.

War on drugs

Although Plan Colombia includes components which address social aid and institutional reform, the initiative has come to be regarded by its critics as fundamentally a program of counternarcotics and military aid for the Colombian government.

In the United States, Plan Colombia is seen as part of the "War on Drugs

War on Drugs

The War on Drugs is a campaign of prohibition and foreign military aid and military intervention being undertaken by the United States government, with the assistance of participating countries, intended to both define and reduce the illegal drug trade...

", which was started under President Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

in 1971. Plan Colombia has numerous supporters in the United States Congress. Congressional supporters assert that over 1,300 square kilometers of mature coca were sprayed and eradicated in Colombia in 2003, which would have prevented the production over 500 metric tons of cocaine, stating that it eliminated upward of $100 million of the illicit income that supports drug dealers and different illegal organizations considered terrorist in Colombia, the U.S. and the European Union

European Union

.

Prominent in the aid package approved by former President Clinton

Bill Clinton

is the "Push into Southern Colombia", an area that for decades has been a stronghold of Colombia's largest guerrilla organization FARC

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army is a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization based in Colombia which is involved in the ongoing Colombian armed conflict, currently involved in drug dealing and crimes against the civilians..FARC-EP is a peasant army which...

, which is also a major coca

Coca

Coca, Erythroxylum coca, is a plant in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. The plant plays a significant role in many traditional Andean cultures...

-producing region.

This funding was earmarked for training and equipping new Colombian army counternarcotics battalions, providing them with helicopters, transport and intelligence assistance, and supplies for coca eradication.

According to a 2006 U.S. congressional report on U.S. enterprises that had signed contracts to carry out anti-narcotics activities as part of Plan Colombia, DynCorp, the largest private company involved, was among those contracted by the State Department, while others signed contracts with the Defense Department.

Research studies

The US Defense Department funded a two year study which found that the use of the armed forces to interdict drugs coming into the United States would have minimal or no effect on cocaine traffic and might, in fact, raise the profits of cocaine cartels and manufacturers. The 175-page study, "Sealing the Borders: The Effects of Increased Military Participation in Drug Interdiction," was prepared by seven economists, mathematicians and researchers at the National Defense Research Institute, a branch of the RAND

RAND

RAND Corporation is a nonprofit global policy think tank first formed to offer research and analysis to the United States armed forces by Douglas Aircraft Company. It is currently financed by the U.S. government and private endowment, corporations including the healthcare industry, universities...

corporation and released in 1988. The study noted that seven previous studies in the past nine years, including ones by the Center for Naval Research and the Office of Technology Assessment, had come to similar conclusions. Interdiction efforts, using current armed forces resources, would have almost no effect on cocaine importation into the United States, the report concluded.

During the early to mid-1990s, the Clinton administration ordered and funded a major cocaine policy study again by RAND

RAND

. The Rand Drug Policy Research Center study concluded that $ 3 billion should be switched from federal and local law enforcement to treatment. The report said that treatment is the cheapest way to cut drug use. President Clinton's drug czar's office rejected slashing law enforcement spending.

Plan Colombia itself didn't exist at the time of the second RAND study, but the U.S. aid package has been criticized as a manifestation of the predominant law enforcement approach to the drug trade as a whole.

Guerrillas and oil

Attacks on Oil Pipelines, 2001-2004
	2001	2002	2003	2004
All pipelines	263	74	179	103
Caño Limón Coveñas	170	41	34	17
Source: Ministry of Defense, Government of Colombia.

Critics of Plan Colombia, such as authors Doug Stokes and Francisco Ramirez Cuellar, argue that the main intent of the program is not drug eradication but to fight leftist guerrillas. They argue that these Colombian peasants are also a target because they are calling for social reform and hindering international plans to exploit Colombia's valuable resources, including oil and other natural resources. As of 2004, Colombia is the fifteenth largest supplier of oil to the United States and could potentially rise in that ranking if petroleum extraction could be conducted in a more secure environment. From 1986 to 1997 there were nearly 79 Moilbbl of crude oil spilled in pipeline attacks. Damage and lost revenue were estimated at $1.5 billion, while the oil spills seriously damaged the ecology.

While the assistance is defined as counternarcotics assistance, critics such as filmmaker Gerard Ungeman argues it will be used primarily against the FARC. Supporters of the Plan such as the U.S. embassy in Bogotá and U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman

Marc Grossman

Marc Grossman is the United States Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. He served as United States Ambassador to Turkey, Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs....

argue that the distinction between guerrillas, paramilitaries and drug dealers may have increasingly become irrelevant, seeing as they could be considered as part of the same productive chain. As a result, counternarcotics assistance and equipment should also be available for use against any of these irregular armed groups when necessary.

Human Rights Conditions

In June 2000, Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

issued a press release in which it criticized the implemented Plan Colombia initiative:

Plan Colombia is based on a drug-focused analysis of the roots of the conflict and the human rights crisis which completely ignores the Colombian state's own historical and current responsibility. It also ignores deep-rooted causes of the conflict and the human rights crisis. The Plan proposes a principally military strategy (in the US component of Plan Colombia) to tackle illicit drug cultivation and trafficking through substantial military assistance to the Colombian armed forces and police. Social development and humanitarian assistance programs included in the Plan cannot disguise its essentially military character. Furthermore, it is apparent that Plan Colombia is not the result of a genuine process of consultation either with the national and international non-governmental organizations which are expected to implement the projects nor with the beneficiaries of the humanitarian, human rights or social development projects. As a consequence, the human rights component of Plan Colombia is seriously flawed.

During the late 1990s, Colombia was the leading recipient of US military aid in the Western Hemisphere

Western Hemisphere

The Western Hemisphere or western hemisphere is mainly used as a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian and east of the Antimeridian , the other half being called the Eastern Hemisphere.In this sense, the western hemisphere consists of the western portions...

, and due to its continuing internal conflict has the worst human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

record, with the majority of atrocities attributed (from most directly responsible to least directly responsible) to paramilitary

Paramilitary

A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....

forces, insurgent

Insurgency

An insurgency is an armed rebellion against a constituted authority when those taking part in the rebellion are not recognized as belligerents...

guerrilla groups and elements within the police and armed forces.

A United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

study reported that elements within the Colombian security forces, which have been strengthened due to Plan Colombia and U.S. aid, do continue to maintain intimate relationships with right-wing death squad

Death squad

A death squad is an armed military, police, insurgent, or terrorist squad that conducts extrajudicial killings, assassinations, and forced disappearances of persons as part of a war, insurgency or terror campaign...

s, help organize paramilitary forces, and either participate in abuses and massacres directly or, as it is usually argued to be more often the case, deliberately fail to take action to prevent them. Critics of the Plan and of other initiatives to aid Colombian armed forces point to these continuing accusations of serious abuse, and argue that the Colombian state and military should sever any persisting relationship with these illegal forces and need to prosecute past offenses by paramilitary forces or its own personnel. Supporters of the Plan assert that the number and scale of abuses directly attributable to the government's forces have been slowly but increasingly reduced.

Some paramilitary commanders openly expressed their support for Plan Colombia. In May 2000, paramilitary commander "Yair" from the Putumayo Southern Bloc, himself a former Colombian special forces sergeant, said that the AUC

United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia

The United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia was created as an umbrella organization of regional far-right...

supported the plan and he offered to assist U.S.-trained counternarcotics battalions in their operations against the FARC in the coca-growing department of Putumayo. Paramilitaries and FARC fought it out in the region one month before a Plan Colombia mandated military offensive began later that year. AUC fighters would have passed through checkpoints manned by the army's 24th Brigade in the area during the fighting.

SOA and human rights

According to Grace Livingstone, more Colombian School of the Americas (SOA) graduates have been implicated in human rights abuses than SOA graduates from any other country. All of the commanders of the brigades highlighted in the 2001 Human Rights Watch report were graduates of the SOA, including the III brigade in Valle del Cauca, where the 2001 Alto Naya Massacre occurred. US-trained officers have been accused of being directly or indirectly involved in many atrocities during the 1990s, including the Massacre of Trujillo

Massacre of Trujillo

The Massacre of Trujillo was a series of murders perpetrated between 1988 and 1994 in the town of Trujillo, Valle del Cauca Department in southwestern Colombia by paramilitaries and the Cali Cartel with the complicity of active members of the Colombian military and police.Some 245 to 342 people,...

and the 1997 Mapiripán Massacre

Mapiripán Massacre

The Mapiripán Massacre was a massacre of civilians that took place in Mapiripán, Meta Department, Colombia. The massacre was carried out from July 15 to July 20, 1997, by the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia , an outlawed right-wing paramilitary group backed by elements of the government.On...

.

In addition, Livingstone also argues that the Colombian paramilitaries employ counter insurgency methods that US military schools and manuals have been teaching Latin American officers in Colombia and in the region at large since the 1960s, and that these manuals teach students to target civilian supporters of the guerrillas, because without such support the guerrillas cannot survive.

The Pastrana administration replied to critics by stating that it had publicly denounced military-paramilitary links, as well as increased efforts against paramilitaries and acted against questionable military personnel. President Pastrana argues that he implemented new training courses on human rights and on international law for military and police officers, as well as new reforms to limit the jurisdiction of military courts in cases of grave human rights abuses such as torture, genocide or forced disappearances.

Pastrana claims that some 1300 paramilitaries were killed, captured or surrendered during his term, and that hundreds of members of the armed forces, including up to a hundred officers, were dismissed due to the existence of what it considered as sufficient allegations of involvement in abuses or suspected paramilitary activities, in use of a new presidential discretional faculty. These would include some 388 discharges in 2000 and a further 70 in 2001. Human Rights Watch recognized these events, but questioned the fact that the reasons for such discharges were not always made clear nor followed by formal prosecutions, and claimed that Pastrana's administration cut funds for the Attorney General's Human Rights Unit.

Leahy Provision

In 1997 the US Congress approved an Amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act which banned the US from giving anti-narcotics aid to any foreign military unit whose members have violated human rights. The Amendment was called the "Leahy Provision" or "Leahy Law

Leahy Law

The Leahy Law or Leahy provision is a human rights stipulation in U.S. congressional foreign assistance legislation. The Leahy Law prohibits U.S. military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity...

" (named after Senator Patrick Leahy

Patrick Leahy

Patrick Joseph Leahy is the senior United States Senator from Vermont and member of the Democratic Party. He is the first and only elected Democratic United States Senator in Vermont's history. He is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Leahy is the second most senior U.S. Senator,...

who proposed it). Partially due to this measure and the reasoning behind it, anti-narcotics aid was initially only provided to Police units, and not to the military during much of the 1990s.

According to author Grace Livingstone and other critics, the problem is there have been very few military units free of members that have not been implicated in any kind of human rights abuses at all, so they consider that the policy has been usually ignored, downplayed or occasionally implemented in a patchy way. In 2000, Human Rights Watch, together with several Colombian human rights investigators, published a study in which it concluded that half of Colombia's eighteen brigade-level army units had extensive links to paramilitaries at the time, citing numerous cases which directly or indirectly implicated army personnel.

The State Department certified that Colombia would have complied with one of the human rights conditions (Sec. 3201) attached to Plan Colombia aid, due to President Pastrana's directing "in writing that Colombian Armed Forces personnel who are credibly alleged to have committed gross violations of human rights will be brought to justice in Colombia's civilian courts...". In August 2000 President Clinton used his presidential waiver to override the remaining human rights conditions, on the grounds that it was necessary for the interests of U.S. national security. Livingstone argues that if the US government funds military units guilty of human rights abuses, it is acting illegally.

Fumigation Strategy and Criticisms

Aerial eradication began as a part of Plan Colombia backed by the United States government as a strategy to eliminate drug crops in Colombia in the 1980s. By the mid-1990s, drug cultivation increased, which caused fumigation efforts to become more intensified. However, with the continued expansion of drug cultivation, the United States policymakers put the fumigation as the central strategy for Plan Colombia. Between 2000 and 2003, the fumigation program sprayed over 380,000 hectares of coca, which is equivalent to more than 8% of Colombia’s arable land. The spraying was carried out by a police unit known as the Colombian Antinarcotics Directorate (DIRAN) and by 2003, twenty-four aircraft were conducting fumigation. The aircraft were also accompanied by armed helicopters to protect them from potential ground fire that could come from the FARC or other armed groups active in the drug cultivation areas.

The scandal behind the fumigation strategy in Colombia raises many issues. One point is the most important of whether or not it has been successful. In 2004, according to Robert Charles, assistant secretary of state for the INL, fumigation efforts were getting close to the point that continued suppression of the drug crops would convince growers that continued cultivation will be futile. However, statistics show that sharp reductions in growing caused by fumigation in 2002-2003 did not reduce cultivation levels back to their numbers in 1998, and on top of that, Colombia still remains the largest coca-growing country in the world. Another reason to remain skeptical of the success of this program is the “balloon effect”. This means that when aerial eradication halted drug cultivation in one area, it would simply appear in another area, which would in turn reverse the intended effects of fumigation. As a result, coca farming has spread throughout Colombia, and the Colombian government even reported that between 1999 and 2002, the number of provinces where coca was being grown rose from twelve to twenty-two. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) also presented research on coca cultivation in Colombia which showed this crop’s high degree of mobility and its increases of cultivation in ten provinces. For example, in the province Guaviare, coca cultivation moved south toward Caquetá and Putumayo as a result of aerial eradication in the 1990s, and thus cultivation rose 55 percent.

Another issue raised by fumigation is rights violations. First of all, aerial eradication is destroying the only economic option for a number of peasants involved in illicit drug crops. Also, when the crops are destroyed, it causes forced displacement of peasants, because they have to find a new place to grow their crops. In Putumayo, 17,000 people were displaced as a result of fumigation, and their income and food supply were threatened. Even in a general standpoint, Colombia’s Council for Human Rights and Displacement showed that in 2001 and 2002, fumigation left 75,000 people nationwide displaced. In addition, spraying is shown to have effects on health. Many residents of spray zones have shown to have a variety of skin, respiratory, and other ailments. The scandal regarding health violations arises because the U.S. State department constantly downplays these concerns. They claim instead that illness arises as a result of the herbicides they use for their crop cultivation. Also, the EPA provided the State Department with the assessments of health and environment impacts of fumigation, but these assessments were conducted without any information specific to the local environment of Colombia. The State Department does not even submit enough information to the EPA on how spraying is actually carried out. In terms of environmental effects, because of the “balloon effect”, farmers end up moving their crop cultivation into forests and national parks. As a result, there has been deforestation, pollution of soil and waterways, and even increased risk of extinction for Colombian bird and plant species.
Aside from these specific issues, there are also others raised about the costs of fumigation and if it is using too much money.

Proposed use of mycoherbicides

In 1999, the U.S. Congress added a provision to its Plan Colombia aid package that called for the employment of mycoherbicides against coca and opium crops. The potential use of Fusarium oxysporum

Fusarium oxysporum

Fusarium oxysporum Schlecht. as emended by Snyder and Hansen comprises all the species, varieties and forms recognized by Wollenweber and Reinking within an infrageneric grouping called section Elegans...

as part of these efforts was questioned and opposed by environmentalists. Colombia rejected the proposal and the Clinton administration waived the provision in light of continued criticism.

Expansion under Bush

In 2001, the administration of U.S. President

President

A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

expanded the program with the appropriation of $676 million for the Andean Counterdrug Initiative. Of this appropriation, approximately $380 million was targeted at Colombia. The rest went towards other South American countries covered by the Andean Counterdrug Initiative. The 2001 initiative reduced the limitations on the numbers and the activities of civilian contractors, allowing them to carry and use military weapons which, according to the U.S. government, would be necessary to ensure the safety of personnel and equipment during spray missions. The United States Congress rejected amendments to the Andean initiative that would have redirected some of the money to demand reduction programs in the United States, primarily through funding of drug treatment services. Some critics have opposed the rejection of these modifications, claiming that the drug problem and its multiple repercussions would be structurally addressed by curbing the demand, and not the production, of illicit drugs, since drug crops can always be regrown and transplanted elsewhere, inside or outside Colombia and its neighboring countries, as long as there is a commercially viable market.

In 2004, the United States appropriated approximately $727 million for the Andean Counterdrug Initiative, $463 million of which was targeted at Colombia.

In October 2004, the compromise version of two U.S. House-Senate bills was approved, increasing the number of U.S. military advisors that operate in the country as part of Plan Colombia to 800 (from 400) and that of private contractors to 600 (from 400).

In a November 22, 2004 visit to Cartagena

Cartagena, Colombia

Cartagena de Indias , is a large Caribbean beach resort city on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region and capital of Bolívar Department...

, President Bush stood by Colombian president Uribe's security policies and declared his support for continuing to provide Plan Colombia aid in the future. Bush claimed the initiative enjoys "wide bipartisan support" in the US and in the coming year he would ask Congress to renew its support.

Military Programs

As of 2008 Plan Colombia's U.S.-funded military programs comprised:

Army Aviation Brigade (2000-2008 cost: $844 million)
- This program is executed by the U.S. State and Defense departments. It equips and trains the helicopter units of the Colombian Army. It is subdivided into various specific programs.
  - Plan Colombia Helicopter Program (PCHP) comprises helicopters provided for free by the U.S. government to the Colombian Army. The program needs 43 contract pilots and 87 contract mechanics to operate.
    - 17 Bell UH-1N helicopters ( Former Canadian aircraft bought via US gov )
    - 22 Bell UH-1H (Huey II) helicopters
    - 13 Sikorsky UH-60L helicopters
  - Foreign Military Sales (FMS) helicopters are purchased by the Colombian Army but supported by U.S. personnel.
    - 20 Sikorsky UH-60L helicopters
  - Technical Assistance Field Team
    - Based at Tolemaida Army Base (Melgar
      Melgar
      Foot Ball Club Melgar, known simply as FBC Melgar or Melgar, is a Peruvian soccer club based in Arequipa, Peru. It is one of Peru's oldest soccer teams, founded on March 25, 1915 by a group of soccer enthusiasts from Arequipa....
      
      , Cundinamarca
      Cundinamarca Department
      - Origin of the name :The name of Cundinamarca comes from Kundur marqa, an indigenous expression, probably derived from Quechua. Meaning "Condor's Nest", it was used in pre-Columbian times by the natives of the Magdalena Valley to refer to the nearby highlands....
      
      ), the team provides maintenance to U.S.-made helicopters.
  - Joint Initial Entry Rotary Wing School
    - Based at Melgar Air base (Melgar
      Melgar
      Foot Ball Club Melgar, known simply as FBC Melgar or Melgar, is a Peruvian soccer club based in Arequipa, Peru. It is one of Peru's oldest soccer teams, founded on March 25, 1915 by a group of soccer enthusiasts from Arequipa....
      
      , Tolima
      Tolima
      Tolima may refer to:* Nevado del Tolima, a volcano in Colombia* Tolima Department of Colombia* Deportes Tolima, a football team in the First Division...
      
      ), it is a flight school for Colombian combat-helicopter pilots. Additional pilot training is provided at the U.S. Army's helicopter training center (Fort Rucker
      Fort Rucker
      Fort Rucker is a U.S. Army post located mostly in Dale County, Alabama, United States. It was named for a Civil War officer, Confederate General Edmund Rucker. The post is the primary flight training base for Army Aviation and is home to the United States Army Aviation Center of Excellence and...
      
      , Alabama
      Alabama
      Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
      
      )
National Police Air Service (2000-2008 cost: $463 million)
- The U.S. State Department provides support to approximately 90 aircraft operated by the Colombian National Police. The U.S. Defense Department supports the construction of an aviation depot at Madrid Air Base (Madrid, Cundinamarca
  Cundinamarca Department
  - Origin of the name :The name of Cundinamarca comes from Kundur marqa, an indigenous expression, probably derived from Quechua. Meaning "Condor's Nest", it was used in pre-Columbian times by the natives of the Magdalena Valley to refer to the nearby highlands....
  
  ).
National Police Eradication Program (2000-2008 cost: $458 million)
- This program is executed by a private company, Dyncorp, under the supervision of the U.S. State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), and operates out of Patrick Air Force Base
  Patrick Air Force Base
  Patrick Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base located between Satellite Beach and Cocoa Beach, in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It was named in honor of Major General Mason Patrick. An Air Force Space Command base, it is home to the 45th Space Wing...
  
  in Florida
  Florida
  Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
  
  . U.S. State Department-owned planes spray chemicals to destroy coca and oppium poppy crops in rural Colombia. From 2000 to 2008 more than 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of crops were destroyed.
  - 13 Air Tractor AT-802 armored crop dusters
  - 13 Bell UH-1N helicopters
  - 4 Alenia C-27 cargo planes
National Police Interdiction Efforts (2000-2008 cost: $153 million)
- The U.S. State Department equips and trains a Colombian National Police unit known as Junglas. The unit's 500 members are divided into three companies based in Bogotá
  Bogotá
  Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
  
  , Santa Marta
  Santa Marta
  Santa Marta is the capital city of the Colombian department of Magdalena in the Caribbean Region. It was founded in July 29, 1525 by the Spanish conqueror Rodrigo de Bastidas, which makes it the oldest remaining city in Colombia...
  
  , and Tulua
  Tuluá
  Tuluá is a city located in the heart of the Cauca Valley, Colombia Valle del Cauca, Colombia. A major industrial and commercial center, it is the region's fourth largest city after Cali, the department capital, Buenaventura and Palmira. Founded around 1741 by Juan de Lemos y Aguirre, it has a...
  
  .
Infrastructure Security Strategy (2000-2008 cost: $115 million)
- This program secures part of the Cano Limon-Covenas Pipeline, benefiting international oil company Occidental Petroleum
  Occidental Petroleum
  Occidental Petroleum Corporation is a California-based oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the United States, the Middle East, North Africa, and South America...
  
  . Its air component has 2 Sikorsky UH-60 and 8 Bell UH-1H (Huey II) helicopters. Its ground component includes U.S. Special Forces training and equipment for 1,600 Colombian Army soldiers.
Army Ground Forces (2000-2008 cost: $104 million)
- Joint Task Force Omega
  - It was established to operate in the central departments of Meta
    Meta
    Meta- , is a prefix used in English to indicate a concept which is an abstraction from another concept, used to complete or add to the latter....
    
    , Guaviare
    Guaviare Department
    Guaviare is a department of Colombia. It is in the southern central region of the country. Its capital is San José del Guaviare. Guaviare was created on July 4, 1991 by the new Political Constitution of Colombia...
    
    , and Caqueta
    Caquetá
    Caquetá may refer to:* Caquetá River, a river in Colombia* Caquetá Territory, a former territory of Colombia* Caquetá Department, a department of Colombia...
    
    . U.S. military advisors provided planning and intelligence support. The U.S. also provided weapons, ammunition, vehicles, and a base in La Macarena, Meta
    Meta
    Meta- , is a prefix used in English to indicate a concept which is an abstraction from another concept, used to complete or add to the latter....
    
    . It has about 10,000 soldiers.
- Counternarcotics Brigade
  - It was established to operate in the southern departments of Putumayo and Caqueta
    Caquetá
    Caquetá may refer to:* Caquetá River, a river in Colombia* Caquetá Territory, a former territory of Colombia* Caquetá Department, a department of Colombia...
    
    . The U.S. Defense Department provided training and built bases in Tres Esquinas and Larandia
    Fuerte Militar Larandia
    The Larandia Army Post is Colombian Military base located in Caqueta, southern Colombia shared by the Colombian National Army, the Colombian National Police, the Colombian Air Force and a small number of United States Military and US civilian personnel giving support and training to Colombian...
    
    , Caqueta
    Caquetá
    Caquetá may refer to:* Caquetá River, a river in Colombia* Caquetá Territory, a former territory of Colombia* Caquetá Department, a department of Colombia...
    
    . The U.S. State Department provided weapons, ammunition and training. It has about 2,300 soldiers.
- Joint Special Forces Command
  - It was established to pursue wanted individuals and rescue hostages. The U.S. provided training, weapons, ammunition, and a base near Bogotá
    Bogotá
    Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
    
    . It has about 2,000 soldiers.
Police Presence in Conflict Zones (2000-2008 cost: $92 million)
- This program aims to establish government presence in all Colombian municipalities. Fifteen percent of Colombian municipalities had no police presence in 2002. Today all municipalities are covered, but in many of them government presence is limited to a small number of policemen. The program organized 68 squadrons of Carabineros, of 120 policemen each. The U.S. Department of State provides training, weapons, ammunition, night-vision goggles, and other equipment.
Coastal and River Interdiction (2000-2008 cost: $89 million)
- This program gave the Colombian Navy and Marines water vessels and aircraft to patrol the country's coast and rivers. The Navy received 8 interceptor boats and 2 Cessna Grand Caravan transport planes. The Marines received 95 patrol boats. The U.S. also provided both services with weapons, fuel, communications gear, night-vision goggles, and other equipment.
Air Interdiction (2000-2008 cost: $62 million)
- The U.S. State and Defense departments provided the Colombian Air Force with 7 surveillance planes and their maintenance support. The program also operates five radars inside Colombia, other radars outside the country, and airborne radars. The program is also known as the Air Bridge Denial Program
  Air Bridge Denial Program
  Starting in the 1990s the Central Intelligence Agency has operated an anti-narcotics program in Colombia and Peru called Air Bridge Denial . The ABD program targeted drug traffickers that transport illicit drugs through the air by forcing down suspicious aircraft, using lethal force if necessary...
  
  .
Another $2 billion were allocated from 2000 to 2008 to other programs including the Critical Flight Safety Program to extend the life of the U.S. State Department's fleet of aircraft, additional counternarcotics funding and aviation support for battlefield medical evacuations.

Nonmilitary Programs

As of 2008, the U.S. has provided nearly $1.3 billion to Colombia through Plan Colombia's nonmilitary aid programs:

Alternative Development (2000-2008 cost: $500 million)
Internally Displaced Persons (2000-2008 cost: $247 million)
Demobilization and Reintegration (2000-2008 cost: $44 million)
Democracy and Human Rights (2000-2008 cost: $158 million)
Promote the Rule of Law (2000-2008 cost: $238 million)

Results

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2006	2007(estimated)
Herbicide fumigation (sq. kilometers) Table one from U.S. government pdf file	432	473	842	1,226	1,328	1,365	x	x
Coca left over (sq. kilometers) Table two from U.S. government pdf file	1,225	1,362	1,698	1,444	1,138	1,140	x	x
Total coca cultivation (Herbicide fumigation + Coca left over)	1,657	1,835	2,540	2,671	2,466	2,505	860	360

U.S. 2005 Estimate

On April 14, 2006, the U.S. Drug Czar's office announced that its Colombian coca cultivation estimate for 2005 was significantly greater than that of any year since 2002. The press release from the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy stated that "coca cultivation declined by 8 percent, from 114,100 to 105,400 hectares, when those areas surveyed by the US government in 2004 were compared with the same areas in 2005". However, "the survey also found 144,000 hectares of coca under cultivation in 2005 in a search area that was 81 percent larger than that used in 2004...newly imaged areas show about 39,000 additional hectares of coca. Because these areas were not previously surveyed, it is impossible to determine for how long they have been under coca cultivation."

Critics of Plan Colombia and of ongoing fumigation programs considered this new information as a sign of the failure of current U.S. drug policy. The Center for International Policy

Center for International Policy

The Center for International Policy is a non-profit public policy research and advocacy think tank with offices in Washington, D.C. and New York City. It was founded in 1975 in response to the Vietnam War. The Center describes its mission as "promoting a U.S...

stated that "even if we accept the U.S. government’s argument that the high 2005 estimate owes to measurement in new areas, it is impossible to claim that Plan Colombia has brought a 50 percent reduction in coca-growing in six years...Either Colombia has returned to [the 2002] level of cultivation, or the 'reductions' reported in 2002 and 2003 were false due to poor measurement."

UN 2005 Estimate

On June 20, 2006, the United Nations

United Nations

(UN) Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) presented its own survey on Andean coca cultivation, reporting a smaller increase of about 8% and confirming a rising trend shown by the earlier U.S. findings. UN surveys employ a different methodology and are part of the ongoing "Illicit Crop Monitoring Programme" (ICMP) and its "Integrated Illicit Crop Monitoring System" (SIMCI) project. The UNODC press release stated that during 2005 the "area under coca cultivation in Colombia rose by 6,000 hectares to 86,000 after four consecutive years of decline despite the continued efforts of the Government to eradicate coca crops". This represents a small increase above the lowest figure recorded by UNODC's surveys, which was 80,000 hectares in 2004. For UNODC, current cultivation remained "still well below the peak of 163,300 hectares recorded in 2000", as "significant reductions [...] have been made in the past five years and overall figures remain nearly a third below their peak of 2000".

UNODC concluded that "substantial international assistance" is needed by Colombia and the other Andean countries "so they can provide poor coca farmers with sustainable alternative livelihoods" and that "aid efforts need to be multiplied at least tenfold in order to reach all impoverished farmers who need support".

Analysis

The results of Plan Colombia have been mixed. From the perspective of the U.S. and Colombian governments, the results of Plan Colombia have been positive. U.S. government statistics would show that a significant reduction in leftover coca (total cultivation minus eradicated coca) has been observed from peak 2001 levels of 1,698 square kilometres to an estimated 1,140 square kilometres in 2004. It is said that a record high aerial herbicide fumigation campaign of 1,366 square kilometres in 2004 has reduced the total area of surviving coca, even as newer areas are planted.
Despite this, effective reductions may appear to have reached their limits as in 2004, despite a record high aerial herbicide fumigation campaign of 1,366 square kilometres, the total area of surviving coca has remained constant, as an estimated 1,139 square kilometres in 2003 were followed by about 1,140 square kilometres in 2004.

Additionally, recent poppy seed cultivation has decreased while coca cultivation actually has not. Overall attempted coca cultivation by growers (total planted coca without taking eradication into account) increased somewhat, from 2,467 square kilometres in 2003 to 2,506 square kilometres in 2004. Coca cultivation reached its highest point during the program in 2002 at 2,671 square kilometres.

The U.S. and Colombian governments interpret this data to show a decline in potential production of cocaine, from a peak of 700 metric tons in 2001 to 460 in 2003 and 430 in 2004, as result of an increase in "newly planted [coca fields] in response to eradication," which should be less productive than mature coca.

U.S. government officials admitted in late 2005 that the market price of cocaine has yet to rise significantly, as would be expected from the above reductions in supply. They pointed to possible hidden stashes and other methods of circumventing the immediate effect of eradication efforts which allow for a relatively constant flow of drugs able to enter into the market, delaying the consequences of drug eradication. U.S. Drug Czar John Walters stated that "the reason for [reductions in supply not immediately driving prices up] is that you are not seizing and consuming coca leaves that were grown in 2004 in 2004. You are seizing and consuming coca leaves that were probably grown and processed in 2003 and 2002."

Other observers say this points to the ultimate ineffectiveness of the Plan in stopping the flow of drugs and addressing more important or underlying issues like providing a viable alternative for landless and other peasants, who turn to coca cultivation due to a lack of other economic possibilities, in addition to having to deal with the tumultuous civil conflict between the state, guerrillas and paramilitaries. They also say that simply making coca difficult to grow and transport in one area will lead to the movement of the drug cultivation processes to other areas, both inside and outside Colombia, a consequence also known as the balloon effect

Balloon effect

The balloon effect is an often cited criticism of United States drug policy. This effect draws an analogy between efforts to eradicate the production of illegal drugs in South American countries and what happens to the air inside of a latex balloon when it is squeezed. The air is moved, but does...

.

As an example of the above, it is claimed by critics that Peru and Bolivia, as countries which had earlier monopolized coca cultivations until local eradication efforts later led to the eventual transfer of that part of the illegal business to Colombia, have recently had small increases in coca production despite record eradication in Colombia, which some years ago accounted for about 80% of the coca base produced in South America. Supporters of the Plan and of drug prohibition in general consider that the increase has, as of yet, been significant to be a sign of the above "balloon effect".

The Colombian government announced that it eradicated around 73,000 coca hectares during 2006 which, according to it, would be above all local records in coca plant destruction. The Colombian government said that it plans to destroy an additional 50,000 hectares of coca in 2007. http://www.presidencia.gov.co/prensa_new/sne/2007/enero/03/17032007.htm.

Quotes

"The intensification of Plan Colombia is extremely dangerous. It could produce a Vietnam-isation
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

of the region, that is to say, an extension of the conflict to neighbouring countries, especially Brazil." Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva , known popularly as Lula, served as the 35th President of Brazil from 2003 to 2010.A founding member of the Workers' Party , he ran for President three times unsuccessfully, first in the 1989 election. Lula achieved victory in the 2002 election, and was inaugurated as...

's party statement on Plan Colombia, October 2002.
"U.S. assistance will fund training and support for human rights-related nongovernmental organizations as well as government investigators and prosecutors, including a specialized human rights task force. Working with the Colombian Vice President's office, the U.S. is promoting and assisting the development of a national human rights policy. The U.S. is providing human rights-related training for security force members and judges and assistance to the human rights ombudsman. The U.S. also supports enhanced security protection for human rights monitors in Colombia." 2001 Plan Colombia Fact Sheet from the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs
Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs
In the United States Government, the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs is a part of the U.S. Department of State, charged with implementing U.S. foreign policy and promoting U.S. interests in the Western Hemisphere, as well as advising the Under Secretary for Political Affairs...

.
"We are strongly opposed to the amount of military aid being sent to the Colombian army when unionists
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

and innocent people are being killed by the very military forces we are financing." Leo Gerard
Leo Gerard
Leo W. Gerard is a steelworker and a Canadian and American labor leader. He was elected president of the United Steelworkers in 2001, and is the second Canadian to head the union. He is also a vice president of the AFL-CIO....

, United Steelworkers
United Steelworkers
The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union is the largest industrial labor union in North America, with 705,000 members. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, U.S., the United Steelworkers represents workers in the United...

president.
"Without Plan Colombia, the Colombian police and military would not have the additional ability they now have to combat irregular armed groups and drug trafficking. The state has acquired a greater degree of control over territory in good measure thanks to Plan Colombia." Alfredo Rangel of the Security and Democracy Foundation.

External links

Photos, statistics, graphs, and maps

Government resources

Successful coca eradication results in Colombia

Videos 4 video clips Video clips Fictional story. Love story about Fernando, an older man who has recently returned to his crime-ridden and drug influenced hometown of Medellin, Colombia. Volume two contains "China," "India," and "Colombia."

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Original Plan Colombia

Financing

War on drugs

Research studies

Guerrillas and oil

Human Rights Conditions

SOA and human rights

Leahy Provision

Fumigation Strategy and Criticisms

Proposed use of mycoherbicides

Expansion under Bush

Military Programs

Nonmilitary Programs

Results

U.S. 2005 Estimate

UN 2005 Estimate

Analysis

Quotes

See also

Further reading

External links