From: Colombian Labor Monitor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Mon, 28 May 2001 22:41:46 -0500 (CDT)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: CR: Plan Ecuador Brings Troops and Development to Colombia Border
Region
[NOTE: It is becoming increasingly clear that the stage is being
prepared for more direct U.S. intervention in the protracted civil
war in Colombia. There is a noose that is tightening around
Colombia to protect the interests of multinational corporations,
to ensure continued U.S. domination, to safeguard the positions of
the favored segments of Colombian elite, and to forge a legacy for
George W., "the President who won the War on Drugs." -DG]
=============================================
"They're planning a Plan Ecuador," said Luis
Ulcuango, vice-president of the Confederation
of Indigenous Nations (CONAIE), at a recent
meeting of international human rights groups
in Lago Agrio to discuss the effects of
militarization along the Ecuadorian border.
"We don't know what kind of plan they're
preparing."
_____________ =============================================
COLOMBIA REPORT
www.colombiareport.org
May 28, 2001
Plan Ecuador Brings Troops and
Development to Colombia Border Region
-------------------------------------
By Ronald J. Morgan
With the force of Plan Colombia baring down on Colombia's nearby coca
producing state of Putumayo, the United States is betting on military and
development assistance to soften the ill effects to Ecuador's northern
border. The first dollars of an $8 million Agency for International
Development (AID) program began flowing in December and will soon have
roads, drinking water projects and bridges under construction in Ecuador's
three northern provinces: Esmeraldas, Carchi and Sucumbios. However, at
the same time Ecuadorian soldiers are being transferred from the southern
border to the north and will soon inhabit a series of new military bases.
The United States plans to funnel $12 million to military and police units
this year followed by $19 million more if the Bush-sponsored $882.29
million Andean Regional Initiative is passed later this year. U.S. aid to
Ecuador is escalating rapidly. The Center for International Policy (CIP),
a non-governmental agency that tracks U.S. assistance, says total U.S. aid
to Ecuador doubled with the signing of the Plan Colombia aid package in
July, 2000, reaching $21.2 million (see, Plan Colombia and its
Consequences in Ecuador).
And if the Bush Administration's Andean Regional Initiative is approved by
Congress later this year, aid will nearly double again to $39 million in
2002. Other narcotics and economic assistance is expected to push total
aid to Ecuador channeled through the State Department to $76.48 million in
2002. This compares with $143.48 for Bolivia, $206.16 million for Peru and
$399 million for Colombia. The Pentagon's 2002 aid for the region has yet
to be approved by Congress.
A draft report to Congress, which explained the Bush Foreign Relations
Authorization Act budget presented on April 27, says the funds will go for
U.S. training and assistance to the police, army special forces, aviation
and naval units. Funding will also provide new communications equipment,
maintenance support for helicopters, new vehicles and facility
construction. The Ecuadorian Defense Ministry also plans to purchase new
helicopters and Ecuadorian-built patrol boats.
In once sleepy Lago Agrio, where long-battling Colombian leftist
guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries often cross the border to rest
and partake of its bars and brothels, there will soon be a beefed-up
military base and a new police facility. Ecuadorian Special Forces units
have begun patrolling the town and surrounding border area and soon a
network of anti-drug checkpoints will be tightening control of the
chemical, drug and arms smuggling in the region. While the planned influx
of millions of dollars in U.S. assistance for the long neglected border
area is welcome, Ecuadorian civil society groups who fear being engulfed
by the Colombian conflict are eyeing the accompanying military build-up
warily.
"They're planning a Plan Ecuador," said Luis Ulcuango, vice-president of
the Confederation of Indigenous Nations (CONAIE), at a recent meeting of
international human rights groups in Lago Agrio to discuss the effects of
militarization along the Ecuadorian border. "We don't know what kind of
plan they're preparing." The CONAIE opposed Ecuadorian President Jamil
Mahaud's concession of an anti-drug Forward Operating Location (FOL) base
to the United States in 1999, but lost a constitutional challenge to the
contract in January of this year. "The government of Ecuador is on its
knees with regard to the United States, all because it receives credits,"
he complained.
But Ecuadorian Defense Secretary Hugo Unda says Ecuador's build-up on the
border is needed to increase security. "We have to be concerned about what
could happen in these provinces," Unda stressed in an interview. "We have
an existing presence in the three provinces and we are planning to build
new bases and strengthen existing ones. That includes increasing the
number of troops." Unda said that the Ecuadorian military is most
interested in using its portion of U.S. assistance to purchase
helicopters. "The military units need mobility. The amount of helicopters
will depend on the amount of assistance."
U.S. officials in Ecuador are downplaying the extent of the military
assistance, saying that most of it is a continuation of anti-drug efforts
that have been underway for years.
"What we're going to see when this $12 million comes through," said a U.S.
Embassy spokesman in Quito, "is higher levels of funding expanding now,
even to providing equipment that they need in terms of communications and
transportation. But it's not an about face, it's just kind of an
amplification of what we're already doing,"
He's cites the creation of the police training school at Carcelan, a
ten-year project that has cost some $2 million. Also, during the past two
years the U.S. Customs Service created, at a cost of $1.5 million, the
Special Anti-Drugs Group (GEMA) to combat drug smuggling and funded the
newly-opened $2 million customs checkpoint at Baeza, on the
Sucumbios-Quito highway.
The U.S. also supports the operation of the anti-drug trafficking Police
Intelligence Center (CICC) and plans to boost Ecuador's port inspection
capabilities. Also, some $65 million is being spent to lengthen the
airstrip and make other improvements to the FOL base at Manta, which will
pave the way for AWACS surveillance aircraft and in-flight tankers to
begin operations in October. The number of U.S. personnel stationed at
Manta could climb as high as 400.
The Pentagon, through the U.S. Southern Command (SouthCom), has long
maintained close ties with the Ecuadorian military. U.S. Special Forces
worked as peacekeepers on Ecuador's southern border with Peru during
Operation Safe Border, a multinational peace effort following the 1995
border war with Peru. In fact, U.S. Special Forces regularly train in
Ecuador and in June SouthCom troops will be in Ecuador for a Fuerzas
Unidas humanitarian and peacekeeping training mission involving military
personnel from most Latin American nations. SouthCom has also recently
stepped up its goodwill humanitarian donations by contributing $500,000 in
public safety equipment to Ecuador and $300,000 in humanitarian aid to the
Ecuadorian Red Cross.
Gonzalo Lopez Maranon, Catholic Bishop of Sucumbios province, which
includes Lago Agrio, said the military aspect of the border plan is
worrisome. "We profoundly hope that the armed forces know what they are
doing with this military presence. It could appear to be a great big
military operation in a certain sense, but with an excessive military
presence, little efficiency and a lot of trouble for the Ecuadorian
population" (see, Ecuador Human Rights Group Condemns Plan Colombia).
Most of the planned development and environmental projects are centered in
indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian regions near the border. Earlier this year
Colombian right-wing paramilitaries displaced eight Ecuadorian indigenous
communities. Also, economic conditions have deteriorated since Ecuador
switched to the U.S. dollar making it less attractive for Colombians to
purchase goods in Ecuadorian border towns. Refugees also sporadically flow
over the border, with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees
officially listing 1,602 refugees and 151 asylum seekers in Ecuador at the
end of last year.
The isolated Awa indigenous reserve, which borders the Colombian state of
Nario, will receive special attention. Eighty-six kilometers of road are
to be improved between the towns of Tufino and Chical. In addition, 15
bridges are to be constructed -- five vehicle, four cattle and eleven
pedestrian -- to improve market accessibility for Awa communities and
their products.
The AID-financed projects will be administered by the International
Organization for Migration (OIM), a Geneva-based group that also operates
projects on the Colombian side of the border. "With all these problems
that were occurring the idea was to support these vulnerable border
communities in preparation for a possible migration and displacement of
people, at the same time with the goal of establishing the foundation for
future development," said Alejandro Guidi, program director of OIM in
Ecuador.
Critics question whether the increased development and military assistance
will keep Colombia's violence outside of Ecuador's borders believing that
it may in fact drag the country into the conflict. Defense Minister Unda
downplays the risks and says he expects an incremental tightening of
border security over the next ten years that will "prevent violence and
its consequences." He goes on to stress, "As far as we know, Colombian
guerrillas have no interest in attacking Ecuador." However, the CONAIE's
Ulcuango isn't so sure Ecuador will remain safe from Colombia's killing.
"We are a very small country, a very vulnerable country," he warns.
Ronald J. Morgan is a freelance writer who focuses on Ecuador.
Copyright 2001 Information Network of the Americas (INOTA)
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