'PLAN COLOMBIA' SUPPORTS VIOLENCE, NOT PEACE

MINNEAPOLIS -- In the last weeks, Colombia's president Andres Pastrana has
made extraordinary efforts to resume peace talks with guerrilla rebels
controlling more than 30 percent of this South American country. The
meeting with Manuel Marulanda, chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, ended with an agreement that will restart negotiations about a
cease-fire and a prisoner exchange, among other issues. Although this is a
positive step toward achieving peace, there are many questions regarding
U.S. involvement in Colombia's civil war and how American policy could
affect this country's peace process.

Despite Colombia's human rights records -- one of the worst in the region
- -- the U.S. Congress recently approved a $1.3 billion aid package for the
Colombian government, a bipartisan decision promoted as a counter-narcotics
initiative aimed at eliminating drug production and trafficking. However,
there are concerns that this "Plan Colombia" will actually provide training
for Colombian soldiers and police officers in order to fight the FARC, a
policy that could be disastrous for the country as it might trigger a FARC
offensive. The guerrillas gain significant resources from taxing and
protecting coca growers and facilitating coca and cocaine shipments.
However, the Drug Enforcement Administration has admitted FARC is not
involved in international drug trafficking. The FARC is just one of the
actors in the complex Colombian situation which includes elements of the
Colombian army and right-wing, violent paramilitary groups involved in the
lucrative drug trade.

Such military and economic aid is eerily similar to the help provided to
Vietnam in the early 1960s and to Central America during the Reagan
administration. The outcomes of these aid programs are well-known. American
troops eventually fought a war in Vietnam that extended to neighboring
countries, and U.S. aid fueled civil wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua. Due
to the presence of U.S. military advisers, mechanics and crew, there are
concerns that the Plan Colombia might escalate violence in Colombia with
the possibility of extending the conflict to countries such as Brazil,
Ecuador and Venezuela.

For example, U.S. renovation of air bases in El Salvador, Ecuador and the
Caribbean has been considered a "declaration of war" by the FARC.

President Bush said he worries the United States military might become
engaged in Colombia, but that is already happening. The presence of U.S.
personnel and military corporations in Colombia has grown in the last
years, and on Feb. 18 an exchange of fire occurred between the Colombian
army and the FARC over a search-and-rescue mission led by a DynCorp
helicopter with U.S. pilots. This Virginia-based military corporation,
which has lost three pilots in the last three years, boasts $1.2 billion in
yearly contracts, most of them with the U.S. government.

Bush and Pastrana confirmed their commitment to fight drug trafficking when
they met in Washington on Tuesday but there were no signs that both
governments would back off from Plan Colombia. In fact, Bush unfortunately
proposed an increase in Plan Colombia in his 2002 fiscal budget but he did
not disclose a specific amount. Due to Colombia's complex situation, an
effective aid package should emphasize sustainable economic development,
humanitarian assistance and strengthened judicial and civic institutions
rather than encouraging a confrontation with the guerrillas. These policies
would effectively address the challenges Colombia currently faces.