Key Players and Interest
Groups
-
Multinational Corporations- Plan will further the process
of globalization in Colombia, opening the market for development of big
corporations and profit in a more stable economy. It will also (hopefully)
decrease the drug trade in Colombia which would hurt the large chemical
companies who sell the chemicals for processing cocaine and other drugs.
-
Helicopter companies which will supply the choppers to
transport soldiers into the deep jungle of Colombia
-
Herbicide companies which will supply the herbicides for
illicit crop erradication
-
U.S. politicians who wish to be seen as "tough on drugs"
-
Paramilitary Groups (such as the AUC, the Peasant Self-Defense
group) closely allied with the Colombian military, claiming to support
Plan Colombia, but also raking in the profits from drug cultivation.
-
Oil companies wishing to drill in Colombia, the largest
supplier country of oil to the U.S. after the middle east (particularly
Occidental Petroleum company, in which the Gore family has extensive investments...
another interest group...?)
-
Other Latin American countries such as Peru, Brazil, Bolivia,
and Ecuador because there is the possibilty of a balloon effect (in which
drugs are pushed out of Colombia and into neighboring countries)
-
Guerrillas (grassroots movement of citizens to combat
the anti-drug efforts often because they have interests tied into the cultivation
and trade of drugs, includes the FARC and ELN, but often these groups are
in opposition to the other bands of guerrillas as well as the Colombian
military)
-
Indigenous Colombians whose land is in jeapordy by the
oil companies that want to drill in Colombia and often, whose livelihood
depends on the cultivation of illicit crops.
-
The United States Government....
<<<<White
House "Drug Tsar," Barry McCaffrey
-
Rebel Groups such as The ELN (National Liberation
Army) and
The FARC (Armed Revolutionary Forces
of Colombia)
often associated with the guerrilla bands who are,
in reality in
conflict and oppressed by these two organized groups...
FARC leader, Manuel Marulanda>>>>
-
The Colombian military...
<<<<Colombian
Armed Forces Commander Gen. Fernando Tapias
Colombian President, Andres Pastrana>>>>