 Colombia Introduction to Video: This video (scroll down) depicts the realities of U.S. intervention in Colombia under the rubric, Plan Colombia. The original version of Plan Colombia was first presented by President Andres Pastrana at the Tequendama Hotel in Bogota on June 8, 1998. In his speech, Pastrana presented Plan Colombia as a solution to cocaine trafficking. He solicited help from "developed countries ... in order to offer our peasants different alternatives to the illicit crops".1 Two months later (August 3, 1998), President Pastrana met with U.S. President Bill Clinton to discuss ... "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".1 The original version of the plan morphed into a project that brought in the right wing paramilitaries when Bill Clinton waived the human rights component and opened the door for a fully militarized Plan Colombia. As a result of the the US funding and input that followed the initial drafts of Plan Colombia, the elements of the plan for "counternarcotics projects, economic development, protection of human rights and humanitarian aid" went down the toilet. The first formal draft of Plan Colombia was originally in English, not Spanish. In fact, there was no Spanish version of Plan Colombia until "months after a revised English version was already in place".2 But U.S. meddling in Colombia didn't begin with the Bill Clinton regime. Washington and Langley have a long history of interfering with their domestic affairs and violating their national sovereignty. Around the turn of the century, Theodore Roosevelt was responsible for severing the province of Panama from Colombia to establish Panama as a U.S. client country in the interest of building the Panama Canal. Roosevelt's involvement came near the end of the 1000 days war which cost 100,000 lives. The CIA was implicated in the murder of Liberal Party leader, Jorge Eliécer Gaitán in 1948, which triggered the period history knows as "La Violencia" (The Violence). 300,000 Colombians were killed during the period and FARC was born under the leadership of Manuel Marulanda to oppose government atrocities and oppression of the poor. CIA documents, declassified last year, reveal that U.S. ally and current Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, his family members and his administration have long histories of direct involvement with the cocaine traffic and right wing paramilitaries responsible for death squads and oppression of anyone opposing the Uribe regime. Uribe is a personal friend of George W. Bush and friend and colleague of Pablo Escobar, cocaine lord and infamous head of the Medellin Cartel. Escobar was killed by police in 1993. Robert White is a former American ambassador to Paraguay and El Salvador, and was second in command at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota. He is president of the Centre for International Policy in Washington D.C. and is critical of Plan Colombia. The following quote and comment are from the Media Awareness Project: " '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.' "But, Mr. White claims, when the Colombian government came to Washington looking for aid for its peace and development plan, the Americans wanted the anti-drug military drive. 'They come and ask for bread', Mr. White says disgustedly, 'and you give them stones'. " The original focus of Plan Colombia was on ending cocaine production by helping peasants develop alternative crops and economic development. At the time it was drafted, the Pastrani government and FARC were already holding peace talks that viewed Colombia's civil war as having "deep roots in the economic exclusion and...inequality and poverty". At that time, there was no mention of military drives against FARC. But in the year 2000 U.S. aid package, 78.12 percent of the funds for 2000 went to the Colombian military and police for counter-narcotics and military operations.1 Since 1997 U.S. funding for Plan Colombia has increased from $86 million to $756 million. The following chart is adapted by Axis of Logic from the Center for International Policy's Colombia Program (CIP) in the United States: U.S. Funding for Plan Colombia 1997-2008 a. 2007 - Estimate About 97% of all these funds have been dedicated to military weapons, weapons transfers, military training and military attacks against FARC. Much of this money, arms and training went to right wing paramilitaries, developed to put down organized labor for corporations like Coca Cola. The most recent and stark examples of the U.S. war in Colombia can be seen in the Plan Colombia missile attacks and bombing of FARC encampments in Ecuador and Colombia. They violated Ecuadoran sovereignty on March 1 of this year to kill FARC's second in command, Raul Reyes and 22 others. More recently, the Uribe regime bragged that they killed 78 year old FARC founder and commander, Manuel Marulanda in another bombing attack. The funding of these military attacks was originally directed to help peasants develop alternative crops for reduction of cocaine production in Colombia. The video below shows how this funding is dressed up now as aid for eradicating cocaine through fumigation which in itself abandoning the original draft of Plan Colombia, is resulting in collective tragedy for Colombia's majority poor and their environment. Additional References
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PLAN COLOMBIA - THE VIDEO Free Will Productions |