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
A Critical Perspective
Most critics of Plan Colombia have drawn lengthy comparisons between the current situation in Colombia and the U.S. War in Vietnam. At a quick glance, several parallels are evident:
Both endeavors were imperialistic wars backed by pressure from oil companies and a popular ideology. In Vietnam the ideology was anti-communism; in Colombia, the ‘War on Drugs’. In both countries, governmental donations are given in the form of Blackhawk helicopters and military personnel. U.S. resources are being used to fight and exacerbate another country’s civil war. Mercenary firms like DynCorp are contracted to train foreign militias. Civilians are often targeted, harassed, and displaced by military groups.
Critics of Plan Colombia often compare the aerial fumigation program to the defoliation tactics of the Vietnam War. In Vietnam, Agent Orange was a dangerous herbicide that was sprayed to destroy the foliage that hid enemy troops and to deny troops food. The chemicals caused severe health complications (including cancer and birth defects) for Vietnamese civilians. In Colombia, the same company that made Agent Orange is now pumping Roundup into the homes of peasant farmers. The same parties that benefited from the Vietnam War are now benefiting from the war in Colombia; the herbicide companies, the oil companies, and the helicopter companies all pushed for both endeavors. Now, people are speaking of Colombia in the way that people spoke of Vietnam; “The U.S. is confronting a deteriorating military situation that could present the Bush administration with the choice of retreat or much deeper involvement.”[9]
Although
these surface observations are legitimate, the similarities between
Colombia and Vietnam do not extend much further. Critics
of Plan Colombia are likely using the Vietnam comparison as a
way to enunciate
a larger criticism; that is, the U.S. pursues economic advantages
for its social elite through ideological propaganda and military
intervention
in other countries which exacerbates opposing regional or sectarian
factions
in order to take control of resources.
"Without the rhetoric of 'fighting drugs', US officials would have to admit to the American public that we are intervening in another country's civil war- bringing back memories of Vietnam and other disastrous failures of US foreign policy." Rachel Massey[7]