Foreign Policy In Focus - Colombia in Crisis

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Halting U.S. Military Involvement in Colombia
Citizen groups charge that two different U.S. policy approaches
--its three-decades-long war on drugs, and its practice of military intervention in Latin America--have intersected in U.S. support for military solutions to the political, economic, and security crises in Colombia. The effort to reduce or halt U.S. military aid is led by Latin American policy advocates, while also being backed by the strong support of drug policy reformers and military reformers. More

Drug Policy Reform
Crowded prisons, the failure of government-sponsored drug education programs, and the militarization of overseas drug control programs have sparked new citizen initiatives to reform federal, state, and local drug control laws. More

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Foreign Policy In Focus (FPIF) has selected the U.S. drug and counterinsurgency policy in Colombia as a strategic focus. We regard this as a topic where citizen movements together with expert analysis can make a difference in U.S. policy direction. The folly and deadly impact of so much post-cold war U.S. foreign policy is amply illustrated by America's deepening involvement in Colombia. Not that the U.S. should not be involved in helping the people and government of Colombia to address the country's multiple problems, but doing nothing would be better than the present policy, which is based on the fanciful notions that America's drug problems can be solved overseas and that an injection of U.S. military aid will improve security and human rights in Colombia. On this page, FPIF brings together some of the best thinking of citizen groups and analysts about U.S. policy in the Andes and the war on drugs.

Other FPIF Coverage

FPIF Experts on Colombia
Colombians are expected to elect a right-wing presidential candidate committed to waging a wider war against the guerrilla armies. Meanwhile the Bush administration has redefined Colombia’s five-decade-old civil conflict as a "war on terrorism" and called for millions more in U.S. arms and training.

Focus on the Americas
A reflection of IRC-based research and analysis on the whole of the Americas.

Colombia
Featured FPIF Analysis
Alternative Development Won't End Colombia's War By Jason Thor Hagen The Colombian security forces haven't been able to absorb all the U.S. military and policy assistance coming. So the Bush administration announced that more of this drug control/counterinsurgency assistance for the Andean region would be in the form of alternative economic development programs. It would be unwise to bet on such schemes as crop substitution or rural infrastructure to bring peace to Colombia--or to stop the flow of drugs to the United States. But Colombia's entrenched and privileged power structure makes any real alternative development that primarily benefits the poor highly unlikely.
Other FPIF Policy Briefs, Commentaries, and Reports
Colombia: Recalling the Backyard Analogy	(July 2001)
Alternative Development Won’t End Colombia’s War	(May 2001)
Colombia in Crisis	(May 2001)
Coming of Age in Colombia: "No Podemos Perder La Esperanza"	(May 2001)
Rules of the Game	(Feb. 2001)
Ugly American Problem in Colombia	(Feb. 2001)
Bush’s Foreign Policy in Latin America: Colombia and U.S. Drug Policy	(Jan. 2001)
Into the Quagmire: Colombia and the War on Drugs	(May 2000)
Colombia in Crisis	(March 2000)
Colombia’s Role in International Drug Industry	(Nov. 1999)
Colombia	(Nov. 1997)

Other Andean Nations
Featured FPIF Analysis
Andean Regional Initiative: A Policy Fated to Fail By Gina Amatangelo The Bush administration’s Andean Regional Initiative (ARI)—largely an expansion of U.S. support for Plan Colombia—passed the House of Representatives in late July, largely intact. The House did defeat Bush’s proposal to remove the cap on the number of U.S. military and private contractors that can be in the region at any one time, a proposal that would have opened the way for greater direct American involvement. The majority of the funds—$676 million—are to be administered through the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement budget. To proceed, the ARI must win Senate approval.
Other FPIF Policy Briefs, Commentaries, and Reports
Andean Regional Initiative: A Policy Fated to Fail	(July 2001, rev. Aug. 2001)
A Much Wider War	(July 2001)
U.S. Drug Policy & Intelligence Operations in the Andes	(June 2001)
Hard-Learned Lessons: Plan Colombia and Democracy in Peru	(May 2001)
Militarizing Latin America Policy	(May 2001)
Closing the Latin American Air-Bridge: A Disturbing History	(May 2001)
Drug Plane Shoot-Down Policy In Latin America	(May 2001)
Bolivia: Eradication and Backlash	(Oct. 2000)
Peru	(Nov. 1997)

Drug Policy
Featured FPIF Analysis
Drug Policy: Failure at Home By Eric Sterling A more enlightened U.S. foreign policy on drug control will necessarily mean major changes in U.S. domestic drug policy. Current consideration of alternative drug strategies is dominated by political cowardice and hot-button rhetoric. When Gov. Gary Johnson (R-NM) bravely suggested drug legalization, no politicians publicly joined him. Instead, President Clinton's drug czar, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, led a political attack, calling Johnson "irresponsible."
Other FPIF Policy Briefs, Commentaries, and Reports
Drug Trafficking & Money Laundering	(May 2001)
Militarization of the U.S. Drug Control Program	(May 2001)
Drug Policy: Failure at Home	(May 2001)
Coca Eradication	(Mar. 2001)
Certified Failure	(Mar. 2001)
Bush’s Foreign Policy in Latin America: Colombia and U.S. Drug Policy	(Jan. 2001)
Into the Quagmire: Colombia and the War on Drugs	(May 2000)
U.S. Drug Policy	(Nov. 1999)
Colombia’s Role in International Drug Industry	(Nov. 1999)
Coca Eradication	(Sept. 1998)
Militarization of the U.S. Drug Control Program	(Sept. 1998)
Drug Certification	(Sept. 1998)
Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering	(June 1998)

Other Reports
Forced Aerial Eradication of Illicit Crops: A Reply to the State Department	(Mar. 2001)
Counter Fact Sheet	(Mar. 2001)

Colombia

Other Andean Nations

Drug Policy