U.S involvement in Colombia Drug War - Essay Example

U.S involvement in Colombia “War on Drugs” in 20th century The US has initiated measures to eliminate or control drug production, its distribution, and its consumption in the last few decades of the 20th century, under the term called “War on Drugs”. This term became particularly popular during Richard Nixon’s presidential period, especially after his special message to the Congress in 1971 during which he tagged drug abuse as American public’s “enemy number one”. So, the term War on Drugs encompassed all military, political, and even social campaign or intervention to prohibit drug production, distribution, and consumption both in the US and abroad. In that direction, the US authorities starting from 1980s focused on stopping the flow of drugs into the US from South America, particularly Columbia. Although, the US authorities initiated covert measures earlier, it was in the late 1990s, the US and the Columbian government officially formalized their anti-drug strategy under the term called Plan Columbia. So, the US’ involvement in Colombia under War on Drugs will be focused here, starting with the discussion of Columbia’s drug background and the early US strategy, followed by military and other actions taken by the US and Columbia as part of Plan Columbia, and finally the results of that plan. Drugs abuse is one of the serious social problems that has affected and is still affecting many societies of the world. Apart from social impacts, it is manifesting into political and even military issue, particularly when the activity of drug trafficking is focused. Drugs that are cultivated and processed in South American countries are mainly trafficked into the United States. Among those countries, Columbia is one of the prominent ones from where there is an increased flow of drugs, further accentuated by internal conflicts. That is, Colombia has long been considered to be one of the most active markets for illegal drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and others and that illegal drug trade has contributed to it becoming a hotspot for rebel wars, social unrest, and other political, social, and economic problems. “The Colombian drug trade is estimated at $10 billion and presently accounts for 43 percent of global coca supply (as well as smaller amounts of marijuana and heroin poppy). It has been responsible for the corruption of public officials and some of the highest rates of violence in the world” (Kaplan). Columbian drug trade accentuated mainly from the 1980s, with the drug cartels of Medellín and Cali playing prominent roles. Medellin Cartel under Pablo Escobar was at the forefront, with Escobar becoming the number one drug-lord as he expanded his operations to many areas of the US. This forced the US authorities to support the Columbian government’s actions against him and the cartel as a whole. “With financing and support from Washington, the Colombian government began fighting the traffickers and eventually succeeded in crushing the Medellín cartel even before Escobar’s death in 1993” (Leech). However, at the same time, Columbia’s main rebel group, FARC strengthened its influence in the South-Eastern part of the country. The group posed stiff challenge to the Columbian armed forces. To fund their operations, FARC also utilized drug trade. FARC profited “from the drug trade by means of the taxes they had been imposing on peasant coca growers since the late 1970s” (Leech). So, this heightened drug trade and the resultant social problems both in the US as well as in Columbia facilitated both the governments to initiate formal political and military action under Plan Columbia. The initial version of the Plan Columbia was first made public by then Columbian President Andres Pastrana in 1999. The main focus of that plan was to seek both financial and military help from the developed countries to fight the drug trade in Columbia and thereby control the internal strife. “It is part of Colombian President Andres Pastranas struggle to get his beleaguered country back on its feet by tackling what he sees as the root of the problem - drugs and the money from them that is fuelling the countrys civil conflict” (“Q&A: US involvement in Colombia”). President Pastrana sought aid not only to eliminate drug cultivation and trade but also for social development. In that direction, one of the earlier plans was to allocate just 55 percent of the incoming aid for military operations against drug, even while allocating the remaining for social developmental activities. The meeting between Pastrana and then US President Bill Clinton resulted in the release of similar objectives for Plan Columbia. “U.S. aid for counternarcotics projects, sustainable economic development, the protection of human rights, humanitarian aid, stimulating private investment, and joining other donors and international financial institutions to promote Colombias economic growth” (Grayson 42). Then, when the final aid package was revealed, majority of the funds for the year 2000 (around 78 percent, amounting to $1.6 billion), were allocated to the Colombian military and police for their counternarcotics activities, and only minor portion for development measures (“Plan Columbia”). As part of the plan, five military as well as social goals were set. They are, “To equip the police with 30 Black Hawk and 18 Huey helicopters and to deploy counter-narcotics battalions and police in southern areas where much of the coca and heroin poppy was being grown To strengthen the interdiction capacity by supplying local and regional radar facilities To enhance coca eradication with more spray planes and base facilities To promote crop substitution To improve the administration of justice to reduce violence and improve human rights observance” (“Plan Columbia”) In that direction, as part of its Plan Colombia program, the US government provides military equipments as well as military training. That is, apart from giving military aid and equipments, it trains Colombian military personnel in counternarcotics operations at its military institutions such as School of Americas (SOA) (Davis et al. 411). In addition, private corporations of the US such as DynCorp are involved in this anti-drug operation through signed contracts. Although, the US legislation stipulates that this aid and the above-mentioned goals has to be drug-centric and not to be used for political and military campaigns against the rebels, it is difficult to delineate considering the fact that FARC is involved in drug trade. “Inevitably, such a strategy has resulted in an increased U.S. military role in Colombia’s 40 year-old civil war as the FARC are now being labeled “narco-guerrillas” by Washington and, consequently, have become targets in the drug war” (Leech). So, it was clear at the turn of the 20th century and even now, although the respective US administrations denied their roles in the civil war, they are voluntarily as well as involuntarily involved. When one focuses on the results of the America’s War on Drugs under the Plan Columbia, it provides a mixed picture. While one section argue that this plan has resulted in the reduction of drug cultivation and trade, other sections criticize it for being purely militaristic without social focus and for using controversial spraying techniques. On the positive side, as Davis et al. (411) stated over 1300sq.km of lands cultivating mature coca were sprayed with chemicals and totally eradicated in 2003. This eradication has prevented cultivation of over 500 metric tons of cocaine, which in a way eliminated around $100 million of illicit drug income, which could have been illegally used by drug dealers and the FARC rebels. However, the critics of this plan have argued that despite the destruction of the crops, the value of the cocaine has not decreased in Colombia and importantly in the US. “The monetary value of the cocaine in the United States has not dropped, despite the decreased amount of crops, which leads some to believe that this method is ineffective” (Davis et al. 411). Apart from this perspective, another key criticism against the US’ involvement in Colombia is that it is mainly a military intervention without social goals. That is, as above-discussed, although this plan originally had social development as one of its main objectives, in the long-run it did not fulfill those objectives. The other criticism leveled against this plan is the use of lethal chemicals for spraying and eradicating the coca crops. The chemicals were highly toxic and reports suggest that it made grave impacts on the environment and farmers. From the above discussion, it is obvious that Columbia was and still is a hotspot for drug cultivation and trade causing serious social issues in Colombia and the United States thereby necessitating strong political, military, and social action by the governments of both the countries. Although, the US was taking actions on minimal scale against the Columbian drug traders in early 1980s, it was in the 1990s that official actions were initiated. Under the Plan Colombia, the US government provided military aid, equipment, and training to the Columbian armed forces. Apart from militarily confronting the drug traders, the authorities carried out mass-scale eradication of the coca crops through spraying of chemicals. Recently, the Columbian government and the FARC are involved in constructive negotiations to end or even minimize drug trade, but in the 20th century, it was a difficult exercise with mixed results. Works Cited Davis, Michelle Lee, Kathryn Nicole Duncan, Lucinda Chee and Jared P. Demsey. “International Drug Policies: Sanctions/Economic Assistance.” Encyclopedia of Drug Policy: "the War on Drugs" Past, Present, and Future. Ed. James Hawdon and Mark Kleiman. SAGE, 2011. 410-413. Grayson, George W. The Cartels: The Story of Mexicos Most Dangerous Criminal Organizations and Their Impact on U.S. Security. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Kaplan, Oliver. “Colombia Calls a Draw in the War on Drugs.” Democracy Lab, 13 June 2014. Web. 21 July 2015. Leech, Gary. “U.S. Policy: From the Drug War to the Civil War.” Colombia Journal, 21 April 2000. Web. 21 July 2015. “Q&A: US involvement in Colombia.” BBC News, 24 April 2002. Web. 21 July 2015. “Plan Columbia.” Center for International Policy, Latin American Working Group Education Fund, n. d. Web. 21 July 2015. Read More