Colext/Macondo
Cantina virtual de los COLombianos en el EXTerior
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Sin m�s palabras.
==========================================
"For 20 years, these programs have done
little more than rearrange the map of drug
prohibition and trafficking."
____________________ ==========================================
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES [Florida]
Wednesday, 5 April 2000
*************
* EDITORIAL *
*************
Colombian aid won't stop drugs
------------------------------
Because Americans are such poor students of history, the Clinton
administration's plan to spend $ 1.7-billion propping up Colombia's
weak
armed forces sailed through the House with little public outcry.
Have we forgotten the lessons of our involvement in Central America in
the
1980s, when, in an attempt to contain Communism, our government
provided
support to right-wing governments and paramilitary groups that used the
aid to slaughter thousands of innocent civilians? This time, America's
stated public interest is stopping drug trafficking. But bolstering
Colombia's military will have little impact on the flow of narcotics
into
the United States. It could, however, draw us into a brutal civil war
in
which civilians are a target.
The Clinton administration argues that Colombia is the source of 90
percent of the cocaine and 65 percent of the heroin seized in the
United
States and that the only way to stop it is to intervene in Colombia's
civil unrest. Many of Colombia's coca farmers cultivate their crops
under
the protection of leftist guerrillas who use the drug trade to finance
their continued insurgency. To stem the drug flow, the administration
argues, Colombia's military has to be given the tools and training to
defeat the leftist guerrillas.
That's why the aid package includes 30 Blackhawk and 33 Huey
helicopters,
as well as $ 470-million for the country's army and $ 115.5-million for
the police.
But the situation in Colombia is not so clear-cut. The country's
military
has been linked to right-wing paramilitary groups that have been
accused
of egregious human rights violations as well as narcotics trafficking.
According to the watchdog group Human Rights Watch, a substantial
portion
of the Colombian military's brigade-level units have collaborated with
murderous paramilitary groups and death squads. There's an eerily
familiar
ring to the reports that, in the past few years, dozens of labor
activists
have been killed or have disappeared.
Even if the humanitarian arguments don't sway those in Washington - and
history shows they rarely do - maybe the practical ones will. For a
country that has touted capitalism around the globe, our leaders don't
seem to understand the laws of supply and demand. Trying to reduce the
supply of illicit narcotics without eradicating demand will be
ineffective. Even if the Colombian military is successful in closing
down
large coca farms, the economic incentives in drug trafficking are just
too
great for there to be any serious interruption in the flow of cocaine
and
heroin to the United States. Narcotics traffickers will simply shift
locations, as they did in moving to Colombia after a crackdown occurred
in
Peru and Bolivia. As the Council on Foreign Relations said about
Washington's international drug war: "For 20 years, these programs have
done little more than rearrange the map of drug prohibition and
trafficking."
The Colombian aid package now faces review in the Senate. If it doesn't
get waylaid there, the United States will spend more than a billion
dollars to be drawn into a morally ambiguous foreign civil war to
advance
a drug war strategy that is a proven loser.
Copyright 2000 Times Publishing Company
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<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
MAURICIO ALBERTO REALPE QUINTERO, B.Sc., M.Sc. -IBT-UNAM-
Instituto de Biotecnologia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.
Av. Universidad #2001. A.P. 510-3. Cuernavaca C.P. 62250, Morelos. Mexico.
Tel. ++ (525) 622 7624 / ++ (527) 329 1624 / Fax ++ (527) 317 2388
Tel. (conmutador). (527) 311 49 00 (ext. 227)
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