News (Media Awareness Project) - US: Critics Say US War On Drugs In Colombia Failing |
| Title: | US: Critics Say US War On Drugs In Colombia Failing |
| Published On: | 2006-02-02 |
| Source: | Chicago Tribune (IL) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-01-14 17:52:58 |
CRITICS SAY US WAR ON DRUGS IN COLOMBIA FAILING
Since 2000, the U.S. has poured more than $4 billion into Plan
Colombia, a program that has provided everything from police training
to Black Hawk helicopters to a nation that supplies 90 percent of the
cocaine and much of the heroin used in the United States.
U.S. officials say that intensive fumigation of Colombia's
cocaine-producing crops has reduced cocaine production and, for the
first time in recent years, caused a squeeze in supplies and a jump
in the price of cocaine in the United States.
William Wood, the U.S. ambassador to Colombia, said that stepped-up
drug interdiction along with the record number of Colombian
traffickers extradited to the United States for trial also has
contributed to Plan Colombia.
"We think that the counterdrug program is being effective," Wood said.
A November 2005 report by the Government Accountability Office, the
investigative arm of Congress, has questioned the reliability of U.S.
government data on cocaine trafficking.
John Walsh, senior associate for drug policy at the Washington Office
on Latin America, a liberal think tank, said that although Washington
has intensified the drug war, the long-term trend in the price of
cocaine has been downward, indicating supply has not been reduced.
"They are putting the best face they can on the numbers because Plan
Colombia has run it course," Walsh said. "Plan Colombia was supposed
to have a major impact on supply, prices and availability of cocaine,
and it hasn't panned out."
Bogota, Colombia - Six years after the U.S. Initiated an
anti-narcotics program in Colombia, American policymakers and experts
are at odds over whether the effort has significantly reduced the
supply of cocaine reaching U.S. shores.
Since 2000, the U.S. has poured more than $4 billion into Plan
Colomiba, a program that has provided everything from police training
to Black Hawk helicopters to a nation that supplies 90 percent of the
cocaine and much of the heroin used in the United States.
U.S. officials say that intensive fumigation of Colombita's
cocaine-producing crops has reduced cocaine production and, for the
first time in recent years, caused a squeeze in supplies and a jump
in the price of cocaine in the United States.
William Wood, the U.S. ambassador to Colombia, said that stepped-up
drug interdiction along with the record number of Colombian
traffickers extradited to the United States for trial also has
contributed to Plan Colombia.
"We think that the counterdrug program is being effective," Wood said.
A November 2005 report by the Government Accountabilty Office, the
investigative arm of Congress, has questioned the reliability of U.S.
government data on cocaine trafficking.
John Walsh, senior associate for drug policy at the Washington Office
on Latin America, a liberal think tank, said that although Washington
has intensified the drug war, the long-term trend in the price of
cocaine has been downward, indicating supply has not been reduced.
"They are putting the best face they can on the numbers because Plan
Colombia has run it course," Walsh said. "Plan Colombia was supposed
to have a major impact on supply, prices and availability of cocaine,
and it hasn't panned out."
Congress to debate program
The debate over Plan Colombia is expected to shift into high gear
this spring as Congress weighs whether to continue funding the program.
Even critics such as Walsh say Plan Colombia has overwhelming support
in Congress because Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, one of the few
U.S. allies in the region, says the program is crucial to ending
Colombia's internal conflict.
Two armed groups, the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia,
or FARC, and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, a
right-wing paramilitary force, have financed their armies though
narcotics trafficking.
With the AUC demobilizing in a peace deal with the government, Uribe
says that battling drugs is an effective way to weaken the FARC's
ability to wage war.
"People want to help Uribe because he has been a terrific chief
executive," said Myles Frechette, the U.S. ambassador to Colombia
from 1994 to 1997. "But they are tired of hearing about progress [in
the drug war], and they want more measurable success."
Frechette and other experts say one issue U.S. lawmakers are likely
to examine closely during the debate over Plan Colombia is the
effectiveness of the paramilitary demobilization.
About 17,000 of the AUC's 20,000 fighters have surrendered their
weapons since 2003. Uribe supporters say demobilization has reduced
killings and other violence.
Critics say the demobilization law does not ensure the dismantling of
the AUC's criminal enterprises while also granting what amounts to
amnesty for paramilitary leaders accused of murder, drug trafficking
and other crimes.
A December 2005 report by Carl Meacham, a Republican staff member on
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, recommended that Plan
Colombia be extended on a year-to-year basis so it can be
"continually evaluated."
"The lack of reliable evidence of well-documented progress in the war
against drugs and neutralizing paramilitaries is disappointing
considering the billions of dollars the U.S. Congress has
appropriated," wrote Meacham, an adviser to committee Chairman
Richard Lugar (R-Ind.).
Chemical eradication
A cornerstone of the U.S.-financed anti-drug effort in Colombia is
aerial spraying of coca crops with the common herbicide glyphosate.
U.S. officials say fumigation has cut Colombia's crop of coca--a
bushy plant that provides the raw material for cocaine--from an
estimated 419,406 acres in 2001 to 281,209 acres in 2003.
But the number of acres under coca cultivation rose slightly in 2004,
and one UN expert predicted the size of the crop would remain roughly
stable in 2005.
"If it has not leveled off, we are very close to that," said Sandro
Calvani, who heads the Colombia bureau of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
While Wood acknowledged the area under coca cultivation remained flat
in 2004, he said fumigation continues to diminish Colombia's drug
output because it targets larger, mature coca plants that have a higher yield.
Nevertheless, Calvani said U.S. and Colombian authorities must spend
far more money on providing jobs and other assistance to coca farmers
to lure them away from the illegal trade.
He said many coca farmers whose crops are fumigated either replant or
move to more remote areas--often under guerrilla control.
One area where coca cultivation has risen sharply in recent years is
in Colombia's national parks, where government authorities have
avoided fumigation because of the controversy over whether glyphosate
damages the environment.
In late January, about 930 Colombian peasants under military
protection began manually eradicating coca in La Macarena, a
spectacular national park where more than 11,000 acres of coca are
grown in an area long controlled by the FARC.
During a visit to La Macarena last week, Uribe promised to pay
thousands of coca farmers about $450 a year to abandon the illegal
crop and act as park rangers to protect the land.
"The only way to eradicate coca crops is by giving growers an
alternative livelihood," Colombia's National Park Service Director
Julia Miranda said.
Since 2000, the U.S. has poured more than $4 billion into Plan
Colombia, a program that has provided everything from police training
to Black Hawk helicopters to a nation that supplies 90 percent of the
cocaine and much of the heroin used in the United States.
U.S. officials say that intensive fumigation of Colombia's
cocaine-producing crops has reduced cocaine production and, for the
first time in recent years, caused a squeeze in supplies and a jump
in the price of cocaine in the United States.
William Wood, the U.S. ambassador to Colombia, said that stepped-up
drug interdiction along with the record number of Colombian
traffickers extradited to the United States for trial also has
contributed to Plan Colombia.
"We think that the counterdrug program is being effective," Wood said.
A November 2005 report by the Government Accountability Office, the
investigative arm of Congress, has questioned the reliability of U.S.
government data on cocaine trafficking.
John Walsh, senior associate for drug policy at the Washington Office
on Latin America, a liberal think tank, said that although Washington
has intensified the drug war, the long-term trend in the price of
cocaine has been downward, indicating supply has not been reduced.
"They are putting the best face they can on the numbers because Plan
Colombia has run it course," Walsh said. "Plan Colombia was supposed
to have a major impact on supply, prices and availability of cocaine,
and it hasn't panned out."
Bogota, Colombia - Six years after the U.S. Initiated an
anti-narcotics program in Colombia, American policymakers and experts
are at odds over whether the effort has significantly reduced the
supply of cocaine reaching U.S. shores.
Since 2000, the U.S. has poured more than $4 billion into Plan
Colomiba, a program that has provided everything from police training
to Black Hawk helicopters to a nation that supplies 90 percent of the
cocaine and much of the heroin used in the United States.
U.S. officials say that intensive fumigation of Colombita's
cocaine-producing crops has reduced cocaine production and, for the
first time in recent years, caused a squeeze in supplies and a jump
in the price of cocaine in the United States.
William Wood, the U.S. ambassador to Colombia, said that stepped-up
drug interdiction along with the record number of Colombian
traffickers extradited to the United States for trial also has
contributed to Plan Colombia.
"We think that the counterdrug program is being effective," Wood said.
A November 2005 report by the Government Accountabilty Office, the
investigative arm of Congress, has questioned the reliability of U.S.
government data on cocaine trafficking.
John Walsh, senior associate for drug policy at the Washington Office
on Latin America, a liberal think tank, said that although Washington
has intensified the drug war, the long-term trend in the price of
cocaine has been downward, indicating supply has not been reduced.
"They are putting the best face they can on the numbers because Plan
Colombia has run it course," Walsh said. "Plan Colombia was supposed
to have a major impact on supply, prices and availability of cocaine,
and it hasn't panned out."
Congress to debate program
The debate over Plan Colombia is expected to shift into high gear
this spring as Congress weighs whether to continue funding the program.
Even critics such as Walsh say Plan Colombia has overwhelming support
in Congress because Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, one of the few
U.S. allies in the region, says the program is crucial to ending
Colombia's internal conflict.
Two armed groups, the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia,
or FARC, and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, a
right-wing paramilitary force, have financed their armies though
narcotics trafficking.
With the AUC demobilizing in a peace deal with the government, Uribe
says that battling drugs is an effective way to weaken the FARC's
ability to wage war.
"People want to help Uribe because he has been a terrific chief
executive," said Myles Frechette, the U.S. ambassador to Colombia
from 1994 to 1997. "But they are tired of hearing about progress [in
the drug war], and they want more measurable success."
Frechette and other experts say one issue U.S. lawmakers are likely
to examine closely during the debate over Plan Colombia is the
effectiveness of the paramilitary demobilization.
About 17,000 of the AUC's 20,000 fighters have surrendered their
weapons since 2003. Uribe supporters say demobilization has reduced
killings and other violence.
Critics say the demobilization law does not ensure the dismantling of
the AUC's criminal enterprises while also granting what amounts to
amnesty for paramilitary leaders accused of murder, drug trafficking
and other crimes.
A December 2005 report by Carl Meacham, a Republican staff member on
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, recommended that Plan
Colombia be extended on a year-to-year basis so it can be
"continually evaluated."
"The lack of reliable evidence of well-documented progress in the war
against drugs and neutralizing paramilitaries is disappointing
considering the billions of dollars the U.S. Congress has
appropriated," wrote Meacham, an adviser to committee Chairman
Richard Lugar (R-Ind.).
Chemical eradication
A cornerstone of the U.S.-financed anti-drug effort in Colombia is
aerial spraying of coca crops with the common herbicide glyphosate.
U.S. officials say fumigation has cut Colombia's crop of coca--a
bushy plant that provides the raw material for cocaine--from an
estimated 419,406 acres in 2001 to 281,209 acres in 2003.
But the number of acres under coca cultivation rose slightly in 2004,
and one UN expert predicted the size of the crop would remain roughly
stable in 2005.
"If it has not leveled off, we are very close to that," said Sandro
Calvani, who heads the Colombia bureau of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
While Wood acknowledged the area under coca cultivation remained flat
in 2004, he said fumigation continues to diminish Colombia's drug
output because it targets larger, mature coca plants that have a higher yield.
Nevertheless, Calvani said U.S. and Colombian authorities must spend
far more money on providing jobs and other assistance to coca farmers
to lure them away from the illegal trade.
He said many coca farmers whose crops are fumigated either replant or
move to more remote areas--often under guerrilla control.
One area where coca cultivation has risen sharply in recent years is
in Colombia's national parks, where government authorities have
avoided fumigation because of the controversy over whether glyphosate
damages the environment.
In late January, about 930 Colombian peasants under military
protection began manually eradicating coca in La Macarena, a
spectacular national park where more than 11,000 acres of coca are
grown in an area long controlled by the FARC.
During a visit to La Macarena last week, Uribe promised to pay
thousands of coca farmers about $450 a year to abandon the illegal
crop and act as park rangers to protect the land.
"The only way to eradicate coca crops is by giving growers an
alternative livelihood," Colombia's National Park Service Director
Julia Miranda said.
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