COLOMBIA POLICY SHOULD BE RE-EXAMINED

I was one of 23 U.S. citizens who recently returned from the first Witness
for Peace (WFP) delegation to Colombia. WFP is a politically independent
organization grounded in conscience and faith which works through Congress,
the media, and the public to create a U.S. foreign policy for Latin
American that is based in justice and peace.

We went to Colombia to examine the impact on ordinary Colombians of the
$1.3 billion from U.S. taxpayers called Plan Colombia. We met with diverse
groups representing the government, the military, churches, grassroots
organizations, displaced people, African Colombians, the U.S. Embassy, and
small farmers.

Plan Colombia has been sold to the public as part of the "war on drugs,"
but here is a summary of our conclusions based on what we saw and heard:
Plan Colombia should be called Plan Pentagon and Plan Deceit. Seventy (70)
percent of our aid is military aid. Helicopters and guns will neither solve
the poverty in Colombia nor drug addiction in the United States. Aerial
fumigation of coca fields is irresponsible because it causes large-scale
destruction of vital food crops, water, and an area of the Amazon rain
forest known as "the lungs of the world" because of the amount of oxygen it
produces.

What is needed instead is support for drug treatment programs in the U.S.
which address the problem of the demand for drugs.

Today only half of those desiring drug treatment can get into programs.

What Colombia needs is a negotiated peace that deals with land reform and
poverty.

Andrew Summers Swannanoa