Current Events
Sept 29, 2000

DRUG WARS.(U.S. aid to Colombia)(Brief Article) Billion - Dollar U.S. Aid Package To Colombia Raises Hopes and Fears

Author/s: N/A

BOGOTA, Colombia -- The most dangerous place on Earth.That description may not give most Colombians a sense of pride. But few can now deny its truth. Here are some of the facts:

• The murder rate in Colombia is ten times that in the United States. One Colombian is murdered every 20 minutes--more than 26,000 per year.
• Colombia has the world's worst kidnap record, with 2,568 people kidnapped in 1999 alone.
• Approximately 2 million Colombians have run away from their homes since 1990 to avoid violence.

Colombia's violence is deeply involved with the production and manufacture of drugs--mainly cocaine and heroin. The South American nation produces 80 percent of the cocaine that enters the United States and 60 percent of the heroin.

Colombia's multibillion-dollar drug trade is controlled in part by an estimated 15,000 antigovernment guerrillas, who have been at war with the government for 35 years. The rebels, known in Spanish as FARC (translated as Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), use drug money to buy military equipment in order to wage war.

Colombia's government has repeatedly pleaded for help in battling the international drug trade that supports the guerrillas. Now that help seems to be on its way.

U.S. Help

Last month, President Bill Clinton, accompanied by House and Senate leaders of both parties, flew to Cartagena, Colombia (see map on page 4), for a meeting with Colombia's president, Andres Pastrana. The U.S. president brought Pastrana a badly needed gift: a $1.3 billion aid package. The aid includes a commitment of U.S. troops and military hardware, including 60 of the newest U.S. combat helicopters.

The U.S. Special Forces will train Colombian troops in anti guerrilla tactics, including the use of helicopters in support of ground troops. The tactics are designed to be used against FARC forces that control two southern provinces. The provinces are where most of Colombia's coca plants (the raw material of cocaine) and poppies (the raw material of heroin) grow. If FARC is driven from drug-producing regions, airplanes could then destroy the crops by dropping herbicides (plant-killing chemicals) from the air without being shot down.

The goal of the U.S. aid is to cut off the flow of drugs into the United States. Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy accompanied Clinton to Cartagena.

"Our primary motivation," said McCaffrey, "is to reduce the 52,000 dead a year in the United States from drug production...."

Critics both in Colombia and in the United States, however, have attacked the U.S. aid package. Many fear that the aid could be the beginning of a growing U.S. involvement in Colombia similar to U.S. involvement in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Other critics contend that the aid might lead to U.S. domination of Colombia.President Clinton tried to answer both criticisms in a speech he gave in Cartagena with President Pastrana at his side.

"A condition of this aid is that we are not going to get into a shooting war," said Clinton. "This is not Vietnam. Neither is it Yankee imperialism." Yankee imperialism is a term used to describe U.S. military and economic dominance in Latin America.

There are 100 U.S. military trainers in parts of Colombia where the FARC is fighting. FARC commanders said they will now include U.S. troops as targets for attack.

Although U.S. troops are under orders not to take military actions on their own, they are authorized to fire back if fired upon, say U.S. officials.

What If the War Expands?

Critics see the introduction of U.S. troops into Colombia as opening the door to an uncertain--and dangerous--future."What does [the United States] do if the guerrillas shoot at the helicopters, or ... at the U.S. military advisers? What if the guerrillas ... move from the two southern provinces and spread the war to ... Peru and Brazil?" asked Clifford Krauss of The New York Times."Either President Al Gore or President George W. Bush may ... have to face those contingencies, and the options they will have to choose from are not easy," he said.

CONSIDER THIS ... Suppose U.S. soldiers are killed in Colombia by guerrillas who flee into Brazil. If you were the U.S. president, would you order a military pursuit into Brazil? What might be the consequences of your decision?