Will this Plan Decrease the Violence in Columbia?
The Plan Colombia is likely to have effects opposite to its official goals:
At the moment there is still a possibility that the FARC may negotiate peace with the government. Beefing up the Colombian military with the aim of defeating the FARC, while negotiations are under way, will make them more reluctant to negotiate. Plan Colombia will bring more war, instead of peace.
Drug eradication may well force many farmers whose crops have been destroyed to throw their lot in with the FARC. Instead of defeating the guerillas, the Plan Colombia may strengthen them.
Neither would eradicating coca from Putumayo be fatal either to the drug industry or the FARC's finances. Coca can quickly been grown elsewhere. Any shortfall in the FARC's revenue from taxing the drug trade is likely to be offset by an increase in kidnapping and extortion (15)
A more aggressive military campaign against the guerillas will only raise the level of violence, and increase distrust and enmities between different factions in the civil war.
The Colombian military has not only resisted efforts of the guerillas to become legitimate political parties participating in the democratic process. It is the group most responsible, directly or indirectly (through its support for the paramilitaries), for the violence against civilians in Colombia. Supporting those armed forces will retard the development of democracy in Colombia. It will further reduce the legitimacy of the Colombian government.
Since the Colombian Army aids the paramilitaries and cooperates with them, any US government aid to the Army in Colombia amounts to support for the ever more brutal campaigns of the paramilitaries. Plan Colombia makes the US government complicit in the murder and torture of innocent civilians in Colombia.
As long as the Armed Forces and the drug dealers cooperate so closely, giving sophisticated arms to the Colombian Armed Forces will not slow down the flow of drugs to the US. Sending new weapons to the Colombian military is almost like arming the drug dealers themselves. Plan Colombia will strengthen the drug dealers, not weaken them.
At the moment there is still a possibility that the FARC may negotiate peace with the government. Beefing up the Colombian military with the aim of defeating the FARC, while negotiations are under way, will make them more reluctant to negotiate. Plan Colombia will bring more war, instead of peace.
Drug eradication may well force many farmers whose crops have been destroyed to throw their lot in with the FARC. Instead of defeating the guerillas, the Plan Colombia may strengthen them.
Neither would eradicating coca from Putumayo be fatal either to the drug industry or the FARC's finances. Coca can quickly been grown elsewhere. Any shortfall in the FARC's revenue from taxing the drug trade is likely to be offset by an increase in kidnapping and extortion (15)
A more aggressive military campaign against the guerillas will only raise the level of violence, and increase distrust and enmities between different factions in the civil war.
The Colombian military has not only resisted efforts of the guerillas to become legitimate political parties participating in the democratic process. It is the group most responsible, directly or indirectly (through its support for the paramilitaries), for the violence against civilians in Colombia. Supporting those armed forces will retard the development of democracy in Colombia. It will further reduce the legitimacy of the Colombian government.
Since the Colombian Army aids the paramilitaries and cooperates with them, any US government aid to the Army in Colombia amounts to support for the ever more brutal campaigns of the paramilitaries. Plan Colombia makes the US government complicit in the murder and torture of innocent civilians in Colombia.
As long as the Armed Forces and the drug dealers cooperate so closely, giving sophisticated arms to the Colombian Armed Forces will not slow down the flow of drugs to the US. Sending new weapons to the Colombian military is almost like arming the drug dealers themselves. Plan Colombia will strengthen the drug dealers, not weaken them.
