Overview of the Plan
Key
Players and Interest Groups
Ten
Elements of Plan
Plan Colombia is essentially a foreign
aid package to help Colombia stabilize to a functional democracy.
This requires that the bloodbath in Colombia is stopped, that the government
can obtain and maintain some degree of credibility, and that the social
structure is rid of constant fear and has less dangerous groups of armed
fighters. The latter includes paramilitary groups, rebels (FARC and
ELN among others), the military itself, and guerillas. The plan,
in theory would protect the citizens of Colombia from the chaotic fighting
that is going on at present.
Of the $7.5 billion total that is required in the plan...
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The U.S. contribution comprises the centerpiece to the plan:
$1.3 billion (80% of which is going to the military and police, 8% to alternative
development, 6% to human rights programs, 4% to the displaced people of
the conflict, 2% to judicial reform, and less than 1% to support the ongoing
peace process.)
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Colombian government plans to generate $4 billion of its
own
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The rest is expected to come from other foreign aid packages
(The European Union has pledged $321 million in contrast to the billion
that the U.S. and Colombia had hoped for)
By addressing the ten
elements that have been identified as the most pressing issues in Colombia
right now, the plan is expected to help the government implement reforms
to deal with the key problems. Because Colombian and American officials
have directed attention towards drug cultivation in Colombia as a major
problem, much effort is being directed towards combatting the leftist guerrillas
in the Southern regions such as Putumayo. The guerrillas are fighting
to maintain the coca cultivation becuase it is the most lucrative crop
to grow there. The U.S. effort in Plan Colombia will concentrate
on two main components: a mass campaign of aerial fumigation
to kill the coca crops and the creation of new anti-narcotics squads to
fight the guerrillas.
There are many interest groups in
the situation because if the wide implications it has. Other, neighboring
countries are concerned that the drug trade will spill into their own borders
if it is run out of Colombia. They also fear conflict on their borders
with influxes of rebels and refugees. Besides being a security threat
to neighboring countries, the plan will also affect consumer nations of
narcotics and it requires that the international community give large sums
of money to the installment of the plan. Many countries are hesitant
to support the plan because they feel the strategies for reform have been
unsuccessful in the past when they have been implemented in other countries
and will not work this time either. (see Plan
Colombia Under Scrutiny)
HOW DO THE COLOMBIAN CITIZENS FEEL?
The views on Plan Colombia could not
be more widely split. The poor peasants farming coca are upset and
opposed to the plan because it robs them of their livelihood, while the
wealthy elite are raking in benefits from a more globalized economy with
increased foreign and domestic investment. The middle class people
feel a wide range of seniments and are split in their views. However,
this middle class comprises a definite minority in Colombia and the majority
of the people belong to the peasant class. They are the ones most
threatened by paramilitaries, guerrillas, and the armed forces. These
people, the poor, are by far the most oppressed and vulnerable to herbicides
that will be sprayed to erradicate crops and to government spending cuts.
Even the middle class risks layoffs in the process of privatizing banks
and many publicly owned companies.