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| Plan Colombia's mixed legacy: coca thrives but peace deal may be on horizon | Plan Colombia's mixed legacy: coca thrives but peace deal may be on horizon |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| In the lowlands surrounding the town of La Hormiga, coca was once king. | In the lowlands surrounding the town of La Hormiga, coca was once king. |
| Fields of the bright green bushes stretched to the horizon in every direction and farmers were flush with cash. The surrounding municipality was the one with the most coca crops in the country that produced the most cocaine in the world. | Fields of the bright green bushes stretched to the horizon in every direction and farmers were flush with cash. The surrounding municipality was the one with the most coca crops in the country that produced the most cocaine in the world. |
| This was “ground zero” for Plan Colombia, a massive multipronged effort funded by nearly $10bn in US aid that started in 2000. The plan aimed to recover a country that was in the grips of drug mafias, leftist guerrillas and rightwing militias, and whose institutions malfunctioned and economy faltered. | This was “ground zero” for Plan Colombia, a massive multipronged effort funded by nearly $10bn in US aid that started in 2000. The plan aimed to recover a country that was in the grips of drug mafias, leftist guerrillas and rightwing militias, and whose institutions malfunctioned and economy faltered. |
| Fifteen years on, cattle graze where coca once grew by the side of the road and cacao is more easily spotted than coca. Farmer Fulgencio Quenguan traded his coca for fish farming. “I don’t make as much money but no one can take this from me,” he says as he scales a few tilapias for a customer in his own shop in town. | Fifteen years on, cattle graze where coca once grew by the side of the road and cacao is more easily spotted than coca. Farmer Fulgencio Quenguan traded his coca for fish farming. “I don’t make as much money but no one can take this from me,” he says as he scales a few tilapias for a customer in his own shop in town. |
| Today, Colombia is a country transformed. It has one of Latin America’s healthiest economies, violence has dropped dramatically and the country is on the verge of ending more than half a century of internal conflict with Farc guerrillas who appear prepared to sign a peace deal in coming months. | |
| At a White House ceremony on Thursday, Barack Obama and Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos will make a pitch for increased aid for Colombia once a peace accord is signed, while celebrating the successes of Plan Colombia. | At a White House ceremony on Thursday, Barack Obama and Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos will make a pitch for increased aid for Colombia once a peace accord is signed, while celebrating the successes of Plan Colombia. |
| But here in Putumayo, Plan Colombia has a mixed legacy. | But here in Putumayo, Plan Colombia has a mixed legacy. |
| Plan Colombia’s first target was to reduce the amount of coca in Putumayo by half in five years. It did that and more. The total area planted with coca dropped from just over 66,000 hectares (163,020 acres) in 2000 to less than 9,000 hectares (22,230 acres) in 2005. | Plan Colombia’s first target was to reduce the amount of coca in Putumayo by half in five years. It did that and more. The total area planted with coca dropped from just over 66,000 hectares (163,020 acres) in 2000 to less than 9,000 hectares (22,230 acres) in 2005. |
| But the crops and related violence moved elsewhere in the country, and after some 4m hectares (9.88m acres) of coca were sprayed with herbicide in 15 years, coca production is on the rise again and Colombia remains the world’s top producer of coca and cocaine. | But the crops and related violence moved elsewhere in the country, and after some 4m hectares (9.88m acres) of coca were sprayed with herbicide in 15 years, coca production is on the rise again and Colombia remains the world’s top producer of coca and cocaine. |
| “Coca is stubborn,” says farmer Quenguan. He hasn’t grown coca on his 12-hectare (30-acre) farm in the village of Los Laureles for more than 10 years. But there’s one bush that, no matter how many times it has been sprayed with herbicide, no matter how many times he cuts it down, keeps popping back up. | “Coca is stubborn,” says farmer Quenguan. He hasn’t grown coca on his 12-hectare (30-acre) farm in the village of Los Laureles for more than 10 years. But there’s one bush that, no matter how many times it has been sprayed with herbicide, no matter how many times he cuts it down, keeps popping back up. |
| “Bad weeds never die,” he says, reciting an age-old Spanish adage. | “Bad weeds never die,” he says, reciting an age-old Spanish adage. |
| Plan Colombia has become a catch-all phrase for several different strategies. It is most widely understood as a US aid package to Colombia which has totaled about $10bn since 2000. More broadly, it was a joint US-Colombian strategy to strengthen the military, state institutions and the economy. | Plan Colombia has become a catch-all phrase for several different strategies. It is most widely understood as a US aid package to Colombia which has totaled about $10bn since 2000. More broadly, it was a joint US-Colombian strategy to strengthen the military, state institutions and the economy. |
| “There is this idea that it is some vast orchestrated project but Plan Colombia doesn’t exist as such,” says Winifred Tate, author of Drugs, Thugs and Diplomats, a study of US policymaking in Colombia. Rather, it has been a series of programs whose emphasis has expanded and recalibrated over the years, she says. | “There is this idea that it is some vast orchestrated project but Plan Colombia doesn’t exist as such,” says Winifred Tate, author of Drugs, Thugs and Diplomats, a study of US policymaking in Colombia. Rather, it has been a series of programs whose emphasis has expanded and recalibrated over the years, she says. |
| Initially, Plan Colombia was described as a counter-narcotics and military strengthening strategy and the focus was on massive drug crop spraying, building up military capacity and offering some incentives to coca growers to switch to legal crops. | Initially, Plan Colombia was described as a counter-narcotics and military strengthening strategy and the focus was on massive drug crop spraying, building up military capacity and offering some incentives to coca growers to switch to legal crops. |
| Andres Pastrana, the Colombian president under whom Plan Colombia began, says the strategy was a turning point in the country’s decades-old war. “Before the Plan, security forces were on the defensive and on the verge of military defeat [by guerrillas],” he told the Guardian in an emailed response to questions. | Andres Pastrana, the Colombian president under whom Plan Colombia began, says the strategy was a turning point in the country’s decades-old war. “Before the Plan, security forces were on the defensive and on the verge of military defeat [by guerrillas],” he told the Guardian in an emailed response to questions. |
| Afraid of getting bogged down in a Vietnam-style quagmire, Congress initially restricted the use of donated helicopters and other hardware strictly to fighting drug production and trafficking. A battalion of 3,000 men trained by US special forces could not be used to combat the guerrillas or paramilitaries unless their targets were clearly protecting drug labs or coca fields. | Afraid of getting bogged down in a Vietnam-style quagmire, Congress initially restricted the use of donated helicopters and other hardware strictly to fighting drug production and trafficking. A battalion of 3,000 men trained by US special forces could not be used to combat the guerrillas or paramilitaries unless their targets were clearly protecting drug labs or coca fields. |
| “Those limitations ... on the use of Plan Colombia caused (operational) problems,” said Pastrana, who will also be at the White House ceremony. | “Those limitations ... on the use of Plan Colombia caused (operational) problems,” said Pastrana, who will also be at the White House ceremony. |
| That ended after the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington, when the US became openly engaged in fighting “narco-terrorism” in Colombia. That is where Plan Colombia did succeed: in helping the Colombian government take control – in some areas for the first time – of its territory, fighting back guerrillas to mountain and jungle redoubts and driving them to begin peace negotiations with the government in 2012. | That ended after the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington, when the US became openly engaged in fighting “narco-terrorism” in Colombia. That is where Plan Colombia did succeed: in helping the Colombian government take control – in some areas for the first time – of its territory, fighting back guerrillas to mountain and jungle redoubts and driving them to begin peace negotiations with the government in 2012. |
| But the security gains came at a high cost. In the first three years of the plan, 1.8 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes as violence and aerial spraying peaked. The military, which received the bulk of US aid, was embroiled in a scandal in which soldiers executed as many as 3,000 civilians and presented them as combat deaths to inflate the body count. | But the security gains came at a high cost. In the first three years of the plan, 1.8 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes as violence and aerial spraying peaked. The military, which received the bulk of US aid, was embroiled in a scandal in which soldiers executed as many as 3,000 civilians and presented them as combat deaths to inflate the body count. |
| For Quenguan, Plan Colombia is synonymous with aggressive crop dusters dumping herbicide on his crops and weak offers of alternative development programs. Until 2004, his entire farm was planted with coca. Every six months, he would harvest 17,000kg of coca leaf, which he would then process into coca paste. With every harvest, he would make $15,000 profit, even after the cut he had to give Farc guerrillas who controlled the area. | For Quenguan, Plan Colombia is synonymous with aggressive crop dusters dumping herbicide on his crops and weak offers of alternative development programs. Until 2004, his entire farm was planted with coca. Every six months, he would harvest 17,000kg of coca leaf, which he would then process into coca paste. With every harvest, he would make $15,000 profit, even after the cut he had to give Farc guerrillas who controlled the area. |
| Plan Colombia was heralded by a brutal incursion of rightwing paramilitaries – often working in collusion with military forces against suspected or real members of the guerrillas – in which hundreds were killed or disappeared. | Plan Colombia was heralded by a brutal incursion of rightwing paramilitaries – often working in collusion with military forces against suspected or real members of the guerrillas – in which hundreds were killed or disappeared. |
| “First came the paramilitaries and then came the fumigation,” Quenguan says. “The fumigations ruined our food crops but the coca would just grow back stronger.” As the herbicide rained down on their farms, NGO’s with Plan Colombia cash offered coca growers were offered incentives to substitute coca for legal crops. They were encouraged to plant yucca, which would be processed in a new drying plant. The yucca flour would then be bought up by a new animal feed plant. | “First came the paramilitaries and then came the fumigation,” Quenguan says. “The fumigations ruined our food crops but the coca would just grow back stronger.” As the herbicide rained down on their farms, NGO’s with Plan Colombia cash offered coca growers were offered incentives to substitute coca for legal crops. They were encouraged to plant yucca, which would be processed in a new drying plant. The yucca flour would then be bought up by a new animal feed plant. |
| Today, the equipment at the yucca plant is silent and rusting. All that’s left of the animal feed factory is a vast empty shell of a building in the town of Orito, where a plaque offers gratitude to the US development agency for its donation to build the plant that would “generate for our farmers a legal economy”. | Today, the equipment at the yucca plant is silent and rusting. All that’s left of the animal feed factory is a vast empty shell of a building in the town of Orito, where a plaque offers gratitude to the US development agency for its donation to build the plant that would “generate for our farmers a legal economy”. |
| Miguel Alirio Rosero, the town’s mayor at the time the plant was built, says it cost $3m to build and was in operation only eight months before being abandoned. “There was a certain degree of improvisation in the design of the [alternative development] projects,” Rosero says. | Miguel Alirio Rosero, the town’s mayor at the time the plant was built, says it cost $3m to build and was in operation only eight months before being abandoned. “There was a certain degree of improvisation in the design of the [alternative development] projects,” Rosero says. |
| “Millions of dollars just melted away in that,” said Tate. | “Millions of dollars just melted away in that,” said Tate. |
| Later programs seem to have got it better and convinced Quenguan to pull out of coca. In 2004, he signed onto a Colombian government program – with Plan Colombia funds – that allowed him to save enough to uproot his coca and dig three artificial ponds on his farm to cultivate fish. Today, he makes $250 a month selling fish at a small shop in town. | Later programs seem to have got it better and convinced Quenguan to pull out of coca. In 2004, he signed onto a Colombian government program – with Plan Colombia funds – that allowed him to save enough to uproot his coca and dig three artificial ponds on his farm to cultivate fish. Today, he makes $250 a month selling fish at a small shop in town. |
| But hundreds of farmers continue to plant coca throughout the country. In 2014, the last year for which figures are available, Colombia had 113,000 hectares (279,110 acres) of coca, only slightly below 1999 figures. | But hundreds of farmers continue to plant coca throughout the country. In 2014, the last year for which figures are available, Colombia had 113,000 hectares (279,110 acres) of coca, only slightly below 1999 figures. |
| Santos has said that warrants a change in drug policy. “It’s like being on a stationary bicycle. We make a huge effort, we sweat, and we end up in the same place,” he told a recent forum in Bogota. | Santos has said that warrants a change in drug policy. “It’s like being on a stationary bicycle. We make a huge effort, we sweat, and we end up in the same place,” he told a recent forum in Bogota. |
| In October, Colombia halted its aerial spraying program after a World Health Organisation body found the herbicide used, glyphosate, was probably carcinogenic. The United States balked at dropping the spraying program but said it would respect Colombia’s decision. | In October, Colombia halted its aerial spraying program after a World Health Organisation body found the herbicide used, glyphosate, was probably carcinogenic. The United States balked at dropping the spraying program but said it would respect Colombia’s decision. |
| Related: Colombians dare to hope as end of decades-long civil war appears in sight | Related: Colombians dare to hope as end of decades-long civil war appears in sight |
| As part of peace negotiations, Farc guerrillas – who have lived off taxing the drug trade – have agreed to support the government’s anti-narcotics strategy, which it says will be more holistic than past policies, investing heavily in rural development, including badly needed roads, while going after big time traffickers rather than coca growers. | As part of peace negotiations, Farc guerrillas – who have lived off taxing the drug trade – have agreed to support the government’s anti-narcotics strategy, which it says will be more holistic than past policies, investing heavily in rural development, including badly needed roads, while going after big time traffickers rather than coca growers. |
| “We must stop confronting the farmers and turn them into our allies,” said Eduardo Díaz, head of the new agency that will lead crop substitution efforts. | “We must stop confronting the farmers and turn them into our allies,” said Eduardo Díaz, head of the new agency that will lead crop substitution efforts. |
| Aside from celebrating Plan Colombia, Santos’s Washington agenda also includes making the case among congressional leaders for increased US aid in a likely post-conflict scenario, including regional development and demobilization and reintegration of Farc fighters as well as de-mining. Currently, US aid to Colombia stands at about $300m a year. Obama plans to seek an increase in aid for Colombia in the next budget. | Aside from celebrating Plan Colombia, Santos’s Washington agenda also includes making the case among congressional leaders for increased US aid in a likely post-conflict scenario, including regional development and demobilization and reintegration of Farc fighters as well as de-mining. Currently, US aid to Colombia stands at about $300m a year. Obama plans to seek an increase in aid for Colombia in the next budget. |
| A senior US official said the Obama administration would seek an additional $100m to back the peace effort. “We were with them in a time of war; we should be with them at a time of peace,” the official said. | A senior US official said the Obama administration would seek an additional $100m to back the peace effort. “We were with them in a time of war; we should be with them at a time of peace,” the official said. |