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Plan Colombia revisited: Mixed results
for U.S. anti-drug initiative
January 17, 2011 - CNN
Bogota, Colombia (CNN) -- It's the largest producer of cocaine in the
world and a key supplier of heroin to the United States.
According to the CIA, Colombia produces 535 metric tons of cocaine a
year, most of it for the U.S. market. The South American country has
retained its status as key cocaine producer in spite of an ambitious
anti-drug agreement launched a decade ago with the financial support of
the United States.
The agreement is called "Plan Colombia."
Since 2000, the plan has cost the United States $7 billion, according
to the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington think tank that has
closely monitored the implementation of Plan Colombia.
The money has been mostly used to help Colombia strengthen its police
and military. Before the implementation of Plan Colombia, 50% of the
Colombian territory didn't have a government security presence.
Marta Lucia Ramirez, a former Colombian minister of defense and one of
the architects of Plan Colombia, says the agreement has helped her
country to strengthen democracy and government institutions. It has
also increased the Colombian government's ability to fight what she
calls "narco-terrorism."
But Ramirez also says that the high drug demand in the U.S. makes it
difficult to eradicate production at home.
"I really believe that the American strategy against drugs is not
enough. It's probably a failure. It's [a policy] that they have to
review," says Ramirez.
Colombia welcomes U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske this week.
Kerlikowske, in his role as director of the White House's Office of
National Drug Control Policy, will do a progress evaluation of plan
Colombia as part of his trip.
Ahead of his visit, Kerlikowske told the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo
that he sees a commitment on the part of the government of President
Juan Manuel Santos, who took office in August.
"We're going to talk about the continuation of the relationship between
both countries, not only in terms of reduction but also in terms of
prevention and demand," said Kerlikowske.
Security experts, including Colombian Aurelio Suarez, say Plan Colombia
has improved security, but it has fallen short on its original goal of
reducing drug production in the region. In what is known as the balloon
effect, increased army attacks against drug traffickers in Colombia has
moved coca and poppy crops elsewhere.
"And the quantity of the drug production from the Andean countries like
Bolivia, Peru and Colombia is the same as 10 years ago," says Suarez.
Salud Hernandez, a journalist who has traveled extensively in areas
where coca is grown, has witnessed the balloon effect. She says drug
traffickers just move to other countries, but also relocate within
Colombia.
"There are still drug dealers [in Colombia]. There's still a lot of
drug trafficking, and there are still a lot of crops in many regions of
the country," says Hernandez.
What's even more troublesome, the Washington-based Inter-American
Dialogue says that roughly 90% of cocaine sold in the United States
still comes from Colombia.
Michael Shifter, the organization's president, says that "Plan
Colombia's many critics rightly point to the policy's failure to meet
the fundamental purpose for which the program was developed: To reduce
the availability of drugs, particularly cocaine in U.S. communities,"
says Shifter.
In Colombia there's a new push to refocus government efforts on
improving socioeconomic conditions for the population as a means of
making organized crime and guerrillas associated with drug traffickers
less appealing to peasants who live in marginalized areas. Colombia's
problems go well beyond drug trafficking and security.
About 50% of Colombians live in poverty, and 60% have no regular
employment. Now that security has improved, many Colombians such as
security analyst Suarez say it's time for the Colombian government to
address issues such as social inequality and long-term development as a
way to slow down the seemingly never-ending production of illicit drugs
in Colombia.