Colext/Macondo
Cantina virtual de los COLombianos en el EXTerior
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Seg�n el editorial del diario, The Washington Post, Colombia esta en un
momento decisivo en su historia. El influyente diario afirma que Pastrana
esta equivocado en su busceada por la paz negociada ante una insurgencia
que parece mas interesada en expandir sus operaciones de narcocultivo y
narcotr�fico que en negociar el fin del conflicto. Sugiere el fin de la zona
de
distencion. Carlos
Crossroads in Colombia
Wednesday, January 3, 2001; Page A16
IN THE next few weeks, Colombia's complex conflict with guerrillas and drug
traffickers is likely to come to a head, on more than one front. In the
jungle-draped southern state of Putamayo, two new U.S.-trained Colombian
army battalions are supposed to go into action for the first time in support
of a major offensive against the plantations and labs of the cocaine
industry, marking the military debut of Plan Colombia, the
multibillion-dollar program to combat the narcotics trade.
Meanwhile, President Andres Pastrana faces a major crossroads in his brave
but feckless attempt to negotiate peace with the rebel groups that control
large parts of the countryside and the drug traffic -- including most of
Putamayo. On Jan. 31, the extended term of a huge safe haven Mr. Pastrana
granted two years ago to the largest insurgent group, the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, expires, and Colombians are clamoring for
the government to shut it down. But Mr. Pastrana is instead talking about
granting control over a second large chunk of territory to another rebel
group, the National Liberation Army, or ELN, which like the FARC has proved
less interested in revolution than in profiting from drugs and kidnapping.
In short, the Colombian army may spend the next few weeks engaged in tough
fighting to take back control of one part of the countryside from guerrilla
organizations, even as the government contemplates handing over other parts
to some of the same groups. While the military offensive may or may not
work, the results of ceding territory are clear: The FARC has used its safe
haven to increase drug cultivation, assassinate uncooperative civilians,
force children to join its armed forces in new offensives, and hold more
than 450 government police and soldiers captive in open-air pens. Meanwhile,
it has refused to negotiate peace.
This bizarre confluence of policies rests on a couple of political fictions
to which Mr. Pastrana and the Clinton administration have clung. Despite
mounting evidence to the contrary, Mr. Pastrana has stuck to the notion that
the FARC and ELN are conventional insurgent movements with political agendas
that can be negotiated -- and not syndicates whose main interests now center
on consolidating control over territory and drug revenues. The Clinton
administration, for its part, continues to insist that Plan Colombia and the
military operations that go with it are aimed at drug traffickers, and not
the insurgents -- even though the two are inextricably mixed. The
administration also continues to give strong support to Mr. Pastrana and
embrace him as a partner in the Plan Colombia project -- even though most
senior U.S. officials regard his peace initiative as misguided and
unworkable.
Both governments argue that Colombia's problems are complex and require
complicated policies. While that is true, this month's mix of remedies
bespeaks less sophisticated complexity than simple confusion. In fact, both
governments would do better by acknowledging Colombia's tough realities. Mr.
Pastrana should shut down the safe zones for the guerrillas and accept that
while some negotiations may be useful, sweeping political treaties will not
end the conflict. The United States, for its part, should stop pretending
that it is only supporting a campaign against the drug traffic in Colombia.
If it is to continue training and equipping the Colombian army, the new
administration cannot avoid involvement in the larger Colombian conflict. It
should have a clearer policy for it.
� 2001 The Washington Post Company
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