P L A N* C O L O M B I A
BEFORE
PLAN COLOMBIA
Situation
in the U.S.
Situation in Colombia
Policy Before Plan Colombia
PLAN
COLOMBIA
Role
of the U.S.
Military Mission
Coca Eradication
RESULTS
OF PLAN COLOMBIA
Ecological
Devastation
Socio-Economic Devastation
Cultural Devastation
A
CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE
Plan
Colonia
Parallels: Colombia and Vietnam?
By.
Carmen Guhn-Knight
cmguhnkn@mtholyoke.edu
Updated 05.05.06.
With Thanks To Mount Holyoke College
and Thanks to the Beehive
Design Collective
for the Black and White Cartoons
Plan Colombia:
Despite its tragic human rights record, the Colombian government receives
more U.S. aid than any other country in Latin America and has the most
enrollments in the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation
(WHISC). WHISC, previously called the School of the Americas, is a Spanish-speaking
U.S. Army facility that trains Latin American military personnel. The
program has been criticized for training soldiers in torture techniques
and encouraging human rights abuses.
In Plan Colombia, 75%-85% of U.S. aid was militaristic. Blackhawk helicopters and military personnel were granted. To avoid congressional caps on military personnel overseas, Plan Colombia includes the recruitment of mercenary companies like DynCorp Inc. and Military Professional Resources Inc.[11] The former U.S. ambassador to Colombia, Myles Frechette, explains that it is “very handy to have an outfit not part of the U.S. Armed Forces. Obviously, if anybody gets killed or whatever, you can say it’s not a member of the armed forces.”[11]
The militaristic approach of Plan Colombia has funded and increased the violence between the autodefensas and the FARC despite a lack of evidence connecting the FARC to the drug trade. The resulting combat between autodefensas and the FARC makes Colombia a dangerous place to live. Both the autodefensas and the FARC have killed civilians suspected of supporting the opposite party.[9]
In
the School of the Americas, soldiers from Latin America are
instructed by U.S. Military personnel. Here, they learn torture
techniques. Beehive Design Collective.