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Updated:4/15/00 |
| Op-ed
by Gen. Barry McCaffrey, director, White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy, The Washington Times, April 14, 2000 April 14, 2000 Aid Colombia Barry R. McCaffrey American interests at home
and in South America have been increasingly threatened by ongoing, interrelated
crises in Colombia. We must protect ourselves from the flow of Colombian
heroin and cocaine, in particular, as well as support democratic government,
the rule of law, economic stability and human rights in that beleaguered
country. The Clinton administration
has proposed a two-year assistance package of $1.6 billion. Colombia would
receive equipment like UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, training and technical
assistance for its police and criminal justice system, funds for alternate
economic development, drug interdiction, and support for peace initiatives.
Peru and Bolivia, which achieved dramatic reductions in cocaine production,
would also receive modest enhancements in U.S. aid. The Pastrana government has
committed $4 billion dollars to "Plan Colombia" and requested
$3.5 billion in bilateral foreign assistance from the international community.
Colombia estimates that $7.5 billion will be required over the next three
years to reverse the country's role as the hemispheric hub for drugs.
Efforts are underway to build support among potential donors in Europe
and Asia. The world has come to realize that the drug problem is multinational
and demands an international response. A nation the size of Texas,
New Mexico and Arkansas combined —Colombia is home to 38 million
citizens caught in the crossfire between 20,000 guerrillas, 6,000 paramilitary
terrorists, and national democratic forces trying to defend an elected
government. The level of violence is greatly exacerbated by drug profits,
which fuel different parties to the conflict and allow outlaw factions
to purchase more weapons. Some 35,000 Colombians were killed over the
past decade in Latin America's longest-running internal conflict. If the
United States doesn't help Colombia, even greater quantities of cocaine
and heroin are likely to be exported. Colombia's role in the drug
trade changed over the last decade. As coca cultivation plummeted in Peru
(down 66 percent since 1995) and in Bolivia (down 55 percent since 1995),
it rose in Colombia by 140 percent — an increase compounded by the
introduction of a higher-yield strain of plant. In the past, Colombia
primarily distributed Peruvian and Bolivian cocaine. Colombia now produces
520 metric tons of cocaine a year, two-thirds of the world's total. At
the beginning of the 1990s, Colombian drug organizations made a strategic
decision to enter the heroin business. Opium poppies can be grown year-round
in Colombia with multiple harvests. A majority of the heroin seized on
America's eastern seaboard now comes from Colombia. After the demise of
integrated cartels based in Medellin and Cali, smaller cells began specializing
in limited aspects of the drug trade. Such groups are hard to disrupt.
Dismantling one has little impact on the others. The increase in drug production
acted like gasoline thrown on the fire of Colombia's insurgency problems.
Guerrilla and paramilitary groups on both the left and right profit enormously
from the drug trade and organize peasants who grow illegal substances.
The drug industry swelled the war chests of the Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia (FARC), National Liberation Army (ELN), and the AUC (a paramilitary
group). Dollar estimates of their income from drugs run as high as hundreds
of millions annually. Drug money augments the funds such organizations
get from kidnapping, extortion and bank robbery. The State Department
documented that these groups hijack airplanes and murder Americans as
well as innocent Colombians. Serious human rights violations committed
by the outlaws include torturing and executing prisoners, expropriating
property and recruiting minors. Colombia's economy is shrinking
for the first time in three decades. The gross national product decreased
5 percent in the first six months of 1999. Unemployment exceeds 20 percent.
Displaced people, especially in rural areas, are seeking paid jobs with
narcotraffickers and illegally armed groups. Recruits reportedly earn
twice as much as army conscripts. Nearly a million citizens lost their
homes, so Colombia has more displaced people than Kosovo. Without help
from international partners, the Colombian government will be unable to
reduce narcotrafficking or regain control of areas where illegal drugs
are flourishing. The old drug dichotomy between source countries and consumer nations is misleading. Drugs are used wherever they are produced. Therefore, a global strategy is imperative against international trafficking. Colombia is too close geographically for us to pretend we aren't affected, and it is currently responsible for 90 percent of the cocaine being shipped into the United States. The House of Representatives approved aid for Colombia, and President Clinton is urging the Senate to vote soon. Our communities are being poisoned by illegal drugs, which cost the United States 52,000 lives and $110 billion each year.
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