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MAKING CONTACT Transcript: #35-00 Plan Colombia: Aiding the Drug War Stephanie Welch: This week on Making Contact.... Senator Trent Lott: The drugs that are coming out of Colombia, are coming right into the United States: cocaine and heroin. And they're poisoning our children. Senator Paul Wellstone: What is sold as a war on drugs to the Congress and the American public is far more complex. Colombia today is embroiled in the hemisphere's largest and longest civil war with the military increasingly linked to paramilitary death squads. Stephanie Welch: Since the 1980s, the United States government has been fighting a so-called "war on drugs," and has approved an unprecedented amount of foreign aid to assist the Colombian military in these efforts. But critics say that fighting left-wing rebels is the real purpose for this aid, and will only escalate violence in Colombia's civil conflict. On this program, we take a look at U.S. involvement in Colombia. I'm Stephanie Welch -- your host this week on Making Contact -- an international radio program seeking to create connections between people, vital ideas and important information. On June 22, 2000, after much debate, the United States Senate approved a $1.2 billion dollar aid package proposed by the Clinton Administration. The aid is a contribution toward a larger international package called "Plan Colombia," put forward by Colombian President Andres Pastrana. He hopes to stop the production of cocaine and heroine in the southern provinces of Putumayo and Caqueta. But human rights groups are at the forefront of widespread opposition to the bill, which they say is a pretext for further U.S. military involvement in Colombia. They point out that eighty percent of the aid is in the form of training and equipment for the Colombian armed forces, likely to intensify the thirty-year war between left-wing rebels and the Colombian military, along with right-wing paramilitaries. During the Congressional debate over the bill, Senator Joseph Biden, democrat from Delaware, paced the floor, often leaving the podium, as he spoke in defense of the Plan and of the Colombian President. A few months prior to the vote, Biden visited Pastrana, who he says is committed to peace and simply needs help in securing the southern area of the country, where left-wing rebels maintain control, and where the administration says coca growing has exploded. Biden was adamant that the civil conflict in Colombia is not what it seems. Senator Joseph Biden: There is no civil war. Listen, we are so caught up in the old logic of how we deal with this. There is no civil war. Less than three percent of the people of Colombia support the guerrillas. Three percent. Every other guerrilla movement, every other civil war, you go into the village to recruit people, recruit people. They go in and... they shoot people. There is no popular sentiment at all. This is not a civil war. Stephanie Welch: Contrary to Biden's assertion, Colombia has suffered the longest civil conflict in the hemisphere, which has left tens of thousands of Colombians dead, and many more displaced. Political murders and kidnappings are a daily occurrence. And the lucrative drug trade in Colombia involves both sides. Left-wing rebels, including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC tax coca growers in the south. And in the north, the Colombian armed forces work openly with right-wing paramilitary groups, who profit from the export of cocaine to the thriving U.S. market. Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone expressed skepticism about the stated objectives of the plan, which was crafted by U.S. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey. Senator Paul Wellstone: General McCaffrey says the purpose of the plan, of Plan Colombia is to help the Colombian army recover the southern part of the country, now under guerrilla control. But honestly, if the purpose of this military aid is to stop drug trafficking, shouldn't some of that aid target the northern part of Colombia as well? Something strange is going on here. I mean if we want to deal with the people that are involved in the drug trafficking, then one would think we would also have a campaign in the northern part of Colombia, where there you've got the right-wing death squads involved. Stephanie Welch: But Senator Biden assured Congress that although Plan Colombia focuses on the south, he has Pastrana's promise that the Colombian military will also work against the paramilitaries in the north. Senator Joseph Biden: I called Pastrana, President Pastrana two weeks ago. I said, "A lot of the criticism of your plan is you're going to have to be sure that you're only focusing on the FARC and the NLA. You're only focusing on the guerrillas. What about the paramilitaries in the north?" I said, " I want a letter from you guaranteeing that you will in fact move on the paramilitaries simultaneously. You must change Plan Colombia." He changed it. There's a letter in the record. He changed it. Stephanie Welch: Senator Biden also disputed claims of human rights abuses by the Colombian military. Senator Joseph Biden: Now if you want to open up the eyes of the Colombian military, who have never been accused themselves of doing human rights abuses-their excuse is they turn their head. They hear the paramilitary coming, they lift the gate, they turn their head, the paramilitary exterminates people, they let them go out. They go back out and say, "What happened?" That's what they've been doing to the extent they've done it. Stephanie Welch: But Human Rights Watch, among other groups, have consistently condemned the Colombian military itself for flagrant human rights abuses. Biden says he is sure that by focusing international attention on the Colombian military and with Pastrana's promises to extend drug war efforts into the north, Plan Colombia will be a success. Senator Joseph Biden: The whole world is going to be looking at the Colombian military. The world. From Japan to Bonn. Because they're all in the deal, they're all in the deal. And if you want to clean up anybody, any thing, any institution, listen to the dictate of a former Supreme Court Justice: "The best disinfectant is the clear light of day." There will be a world-wide spotlight shined upon this military, run by a man who I believe-and I've never personally testified on the floor that I have faith in an individual leader-but I have faith in Pastrana. He is the real deal. Stephanie Welch: But the Colombian President has yet to convince critics that he's committed to negotiating peace with the rebels and to severing ties between the military and right-wing death squads. According to Human Rights Watch, half of the army's active units maintain close ties with paramilitary groups. And shortly after the U.S. Senate approved the aid package, six people in a self-declared "peace community" were singled out and executed by paramilitary gunmen who traveled there on a road patrolled by the army. Pastrana also promised to sign UN-backed legislation that would crack down on abuses by the army and hold soldiers and others accountable. But when it finally reached his desk, he refused to sign it. He faced further opposition from many Colombians in August 2000, when over fifteen thousand people turned out for a 24-hour general strike. They protested his cooperation with the International Monetary Fund to make deep budget cuts in social spending and to privatize state-run utilities and industries. Approval for Pastrana and the so-called drug war spans both parties in the U.S. Congress. Republican Senate Majority leader Trent Lott also argued for passage of the bill. Senator Trent Lott: Here we are, here is Colombia. This whole region is experiencing some transition now. The situation in the Panama Canal, since we've turned over the Panama Canal and we closed our bases there, we see evidence that already there's been an increase of drug trafficking through Panama. We're concerned about the narco-traffickers in Colombia. We're concerned about what is happening in Venezuela, in fact, this whole region of the world, and it's in our neighborhood. For years, to our own detriment, in my opinion, we have not been as involved with Central America and South America as we should have been. And now we see democracy and economic opportunity beginning to make progress in Central America, in the Caribbean, and democracy at least blossoming in various parts of South America. But we see a threat right here in this world, and it's being driven by drugs. And the reason why I refer to it, in addition to being our hemisphere and in close proximity, we are also talking about activity by people that are undermining the Colombian government, that are killing people, and are killing our children. They're those that are worried that if we do this we're slipping toward being involved. Well, we're better to be involved than to try to take action and provide support for people that are trying to move toward greater democracy and toward economic development, and to control and stop the drug trafficking, the drug pushers, in that part of the world. Stephanie Welch: Senator Paul Wellstone was one of the few lawmakers who objected to the bill and proposed an amendment that would redirect some of the bill's funds toward domestic drug treatment programs and efforts to reduce the demand in the United States. Senator Paul Wellstone: I'm just simply saying that we take 225 million, leaving 700 million, or thereabouts, and we put into the substance abuse prevention and treatment block program, which is basically's block grant to our states. And let me just simply say, that whether or not we are talking about the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, or whether or not we're talking about the data that's collected at our states, we are talking about a situation where 50 percent of adults -- or more -- and 80 percent of adolescents -- or more -- who need treatment, are receiving no treatment because we don't have the funds for the treatment programs. Stephanie Welch: The Senate rejected Wellstone's amendment in the final version of the bill, which President Clinton is expected to sign. In October 1999, ten million Colombians took to the streets calling for an end to the civil war. According to Cecilia Zuarte-Luan, co-founder and program director of the Colombia Support Network, the October protests took place all over the country. She says they're significant because numerous sectors of civilian society were willing to risk repression and to speak-out to end the violence in Colombia. Cecilia Zuarte-Luan: Traditionally for the last maybe ten, maybe twenty years, Colombians as such, citizens as such, have been so afraid and so really paranoid with the violence, that they have not taken out to the streets to really say, "We have a voice in this country, we will do our part in this country. We the people who are not armed. We need to say something in this war." And that is very significant, because they were able to put out millions of people for the very first time in Colombia, something that had not been seen before. But, the situation is that many of the main organizers of the march are people who want peace in Colombia. We all want peace in Colombia. But there are people who do not want structural changes in the country. And they were sort of using this opportunity to have a lot of people present on the street, because people genuinely want peace, but the kind of the peace that some of the people who organized the march want, not necessarily the same kind of peace that we are talking about. Stephanie Welch: Some of those main organizers, says Zuarte-Luan, included the business elite in Colombia, those who want an end to the civil war but not at the expense of remedying widespread poverty and inequality. Cecilia Zuarte-Luan: Most of the wealth of Colombia is concentrated in the hands of very few, a small percentage of people, while the majority of the people are in poverty. So when we talk about the structural changes in Colombian society, we mean investing the wealth of the country in the people, in education, in health, in work, in things that would make people to participate in the civil society, to be members of a society, and not to go to the guerrillas or to the paramilitaries as the only solution or the only future of their lives. Stephanie Welch: All sides of the armed conflict in Columbia have been charged with human rights violations. According to Carlos Salinas, advocacy director for Latin America and the Caribbean at Amnesty International USA, the Colombian military has direct ties with the AUC, an extremely violent right-wing paramilitary group. Carlos Salinas: They range though from a guilt by omission, in other words a group of paramilitaries-armed paramilitaries-traveling without any type of hindrance or obstacle from the many military and police checkpoints, to direct collaboration. Whether it be a joint military or police and paramilitary operation, to intelligence sharing, to having been trained together, to sharing equipment, what have you. Stephanie Welch: Salinas added that by sending military assistance to Colombia, the United States could help to escalate the civil conflict. Carlos Salinas: It would be a return of Washington to the death squad politics that so characterized its operations in Central America in the 1980s. Stephanie Welch: U.S. interests in Colombia are multiple. State Department officials justify U.S. military aid, support and operations there as necessary components of an escalating war on drugs. Colombia is the number one supplier of cocaine to the U.S. market, and the Clinton administration has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in "counter-drug" aid to Colombia. But according to Stan Goff, a former special operations army officer in Latin America who served in Colombia and Peru in the early 1990s, the drug war justification is just a "cover" for greater U.S. military intervention in Colombia. Stan Goff: There are two ways to cover an operation. One is to say that you're down there to train the team, that would be a deployment for training, or JCET, Joint Combined Exercise Training. Even though, in fact what we were doing was delivering very high quality counter-insurgency training to the host nation's forces, because in both cases, in Peru and Colombia, they were taking quite a beating in the field. And they'd lost the confidence of their own indigenous populations because of the way that they behaved. But you know, each different type of deployment required a different pot of money and so there were some bureaucratic reasons also for covering a lot of these operations. But the principal thing that they had to use to cover the operations were that they didn't want to scare the American public with the notion they were involved in a counter insurgency because it smacks too much of Vietnam. Stephanie Welch: So what was the U.S. military doing in Colombia if it wasn't fighting against the drug trade? Stan Goff: Stan Goff: I mean, first of all, seven special forces-who I worked for then-didn't know a doggone thing about counter narcotics. We weren't cops. And what we were training people to do when I was down there, my particular mission, was to train them to do night, air-mobile operations. We were trying to integrate the staffs of their air force and army so that they could coordinate night air operations more effectively. Stephanie Welch: Goff says the missions were targeted at the FARC and other leftist rebels. Stan Goff: It's the only appropriate target for that kind of a doctrine. There's no need for that type of a doctrine to do counter-narcotics work. Phillip Babich: Your listening to Making Contact, a production of the National Radio Project. This program can now be heard across the United States, in Canada, South Africa and around the world on Radio for Peace International Short-wave. you can also hear us on the Internet at www.radioproject.org. That's www.radioproject.org. If you want more information about the subject of this week's program, please give us a call. It's toll-free: 800-529-5736. Call that same phone number for tape and transcript orders. That's 800-529-5736. We also welcome comments and suggestions for future programs. Stephanie Welch: Another wrinkle to U.S. involvement in Colombia is whether the United States has greater strategic designs in Latin America. The organization of American States consists of 35 member-countries in the Western Hemisphere. Among its goals is to "provide for common action in the event of aggression" and to "promote economic development." In an article published in the News and Observer, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, former special operations officer Stan Goff criticized a U.S. proposal made at an OAS meeting in Guatemala in June of 1999. The United States recommended the formation of a multi-nation military force that would be based in Latin America, what Goff describes as a new Latino NATO. Stan Goff: When they start talking about a multilateral regional force to intervene in a threatened environment, I mean, what does that suggest? You've seen how we operate in the context of NATO. Yeah, it's a multilateral force, but it's dominated by the United States and it responds to the will of the United States State Department. So I think it's a pretty reasonable assumption that that's exactly what they're trying to replicate in Latin America, because they see that as necessary, as another tool to protect their long-term economic interests in Latin America. Stephanie Welch: Further suggestions of a stepped-up military presence in Colombia may be found in corporate media coverage of the situation. Antonio Prieto is project coordinator for Information Services Latin America. He says that mainstream coverage has focused on the massive internal refugee problem in Colombia, possibly setting the context for a U.S. -led "humanitarian intervention." This was one of the primary justifications for NATO's bombing campaign against the former Yugoslavia in the spring of 1999. Antonio Prieto: Right around the time during the early summer, when the U.S. was already starting to declare victory in Yugoslavia, the U.S. press started to talk about Colombia as the Kosovo next door. There is an article in the Miami Herald, as a matter of fact, titled like that. It's called "The Kosovo Next Door" by Tim Johnson, published on June 13th of '99. And we at ISLA, who have been monitoring the U.S. coverage about situations in Latin America in general, but in Colombia in particular, in this case, we find that several of the articles, such as this one, were using a sensationalistic approach to the very sad and very serious refugee problem. And it's only now, after the situation in Yugoslavia, that suddenly the U.S. press discovers this and starts denouncing it and starts saying the U.S. has to do something. And of course, the reading between the lines, what one finds is a demand that the U.S. intervene in the name of humanitarian peace keeping, when in fact what's sought is to eradicate the left-wing guerrilla, which is one of perhaps the only remaining old-fashioned left wing insurgency movement left in Latin America. Stephanie Welch: Peace talks between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC and the Colombian government were set to take place early in 1999. But the negotiations were suspended after the rebels accused the government of colluding with the paramilitaries and demanded that the death squads be brought under control. Since then, negotiations have been on-again-off-again. The U.S. government says it supports the peace talks, but Cecilia Zuarte-Luan says that support for peace would require discontinuation of military aid to the Colombian government. Cecilia Zuarte-Luan: In reality, the United States keeps on increasing military aid, increasing military presence of military people, U.S. military people in Colombia. And also is starting to share military intelligence with the Colombian army. So also you see sort of the same situation. They talk about peace, but what we are afraid-by "we" we mean the peace movement in Colombia, and here in the United States-is that when people talk about peace in Colombia, or in relation in Colombia let's prepare for war. Stephanie Welch: Lucy Rodriguez of the Colombia Information Group agrees and says that with continues military aid from the U.S. the Colombian government has no incentive to resume negotiations with the rebels. Lucy Rodriguez: The peace talks need to be encouraged. And to give military aid right now will be to really hamper those talks because the military, as soon as they realize that they are getting aid, they have no reason to make any kind of treaties with the guerrillas. They will feel encouraged to say that they can go for an all-out victory, you know, military victory. Which, right now, people say it's absolutely impossible. Stephanie Welch: U.S. economic interests in Colombia include oil and mining operations, and Colombia is the eighth largest oil exporter to the United States. One multinational oil company that plans to drill in Colombia is Occidental Petroleum, based in Los Angeles, California. However, the company wants to drill on the ancestral land of the U'Wa people, who've taken a dramatic stance against the project. As Monica Lopez reports from Los Angeles, the fight of the U'Wa and Occidental's financial ties to Vice President Al Gore has complicated the oil project. Monica Lopez: The U'wa are a community of 5,000 people indigenous to the cloud forests in the Colombian Andes. Their traditional land, and the oil that lies beneath it, have been profit beacons for oil companies like Shell and, now, Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum. But the U'wa have been struggling against oil companies and access to their land and resources granted by the Colombian government. According to U'wa leader Roberto Cobraria, the U'wa land and quality of life are being attacked at multiple levels. Roberto Cobraria: They kill us; they assassinate us at three levels: the spiritual level, the psychological level, and even at the material level. Another result is the contamination of our waters, of our air and of our bio-diversity in all the regions where the exploration and exploitation of oil has been undertaken. Socially, too, this has consequences. The violence in the area has increased, the guerrillas have taken possession of our land, and thereby they want to acquire resources and benefits for themselves. And those who pay the bill are really the U'wa nation. Monica Lopez: After bringing their case to Colombian, U.S., and UN courts, the U'wa garnered enough support to form and sign an agreement with the Colombian government to expand the borders of the U'wa unified reservation. But a report by an oil and mining industrial watchgroup, Project Underground, stated that, as of March 2000, the Colombian government had quote "not handed over one piece of the enlarged territory." Occidental's 1999 annual report stated that due to concerns raised by the U'wa, Occidental would voluntarily relinquish 75 percent of the original drilling area, but would proceed with plans to explore the northern 25 percent. According to Carwil James, oil impact coordinator for Project Underground, Occidental may have given up acreage, but they have not lost one drop of oil in the deal. Carwil James: There's been no reduction in the amount of oil that Occidental has been seeking. Occidental has agreed to concentrate its drilling efforts in a particular area of this northern block. In the past year there were official concessions by the Colombian government last August, in which they agreed with the U'wa to enlarge the recognized area of the U'wa reserve. However, they haven't given up the oil that is one deposit that sits under that block. None of that land has actually been turned over to the U'wa, and in fact some of it is now currently being occupied by Occidental, despite the fact that the U'wa own legal title to land where the drill site is. Monica Lopez: In the 1550s, Spanish soldiers threatened a band of U'wa with slavery. Faced with the prospect of being disconnected from their spiritual mission to protect the land, they instead collectively committed a mass suicide by walking backwards off a cliff. For the U'wa still, oil is the blood of their mother, earth. Drilling, they say, will kill the earth and their people. They have vowed to commit mass suicide as their 16th century ancestors did if Occidental drills for oil on any part of their ancestral lands. Even if it is outside of the legal boundaries negotiated with the Colombian government. Gore's connection to Occidental is not new. According to Carwil James, Gore's ties to the company stretch back to his father, Al Gore Senior. Carwil James: Gore has had a long family connection with Occidental, from his father being on the board of directors, to holding stock in the company, to having them be one of his major donors. Ever since he's joined the Democratic ticket, there's been almost a half a million dollars in Occidental Oil campaign contributions to him and to the Democrats. His father died leaving about half a million dollars in stock to the Gore family, for which Al Gore is the trustee. Monica Lopez: The question of Gore's affiliation with Occidental is not simply one of blind ownership of stock, but one of conflicting interests in determining foreign trade policy. According to a report by Charles Lewis of the Center for Public Integrity, it was Al Gore who spearheaded the largest privatization of federal property in U.S. history when the Navy's Elk Hills Reserve was sold to Occidental Petroleum. The deal tripled both Occidental's oil and gas reserves. For the National Radio Project, I'm Monica Lopez. Stephanie Welch: That's it for this edition of Making Contact, a look at U.S. involvement in Colombia. Thanks for listening, and special thanks this week to Norm Stockwell, of radio station WORT-FM, Bessa Kautz and Sandy Leon for recorded portions. I'm your host, Stephanie Welch. Phillip Babich: Laura Livoti is our managing director. Phillip Babich is managing producer. Peggy Law, executive director. Associate producer, Stephanie Welch. Senior advisor, Norman Solomon. National producer, David Barsamian. Women's desk coordinator, Lisa Rudman. Prison desk coordinator, Eli Rosenblatt. Production assistant, Shereen Meraji. Archivist, Din Abdullah. If you want more information about the subject of this week's program, call the National Radio Project at 800-529-5736. Call that same phone number for tapes and transcripts. That's 800-529-5736. You can also go to our web site at www.radioproject.org, that's www.radioproject.org. Making Contact is an independent production. We're committed to providing a forum for voices and opinions not often heard in the mass media. If you have suggestions for future programs, we'd like to hear from you. Our theme music is by the Charlie Hunter Trio. Bye for now. |