America's Dirty War in Colombia

The Colombian military has recently suffered a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of the Marxist FARC and ELN rebels, who now control an estimated 50% of the country. A major FARC offensive last month levelled an anti-narcotics base in the jungle village of Miraflores, leaving at least 150 people dead or missing. The new President, Andres Pastrana, was just elected on a platform of making peace with the rebels.

In 1997, an average of six families an hour were displaced from their homes by the civil war, which has forced nearly 1.2 million people to flee their homes in the past five years. (1) Guerrillas routinely sack police stations in units of 300 or more. (2) In March of this year, General Charles Wilhelm, chief of the U.S. Southern Command, testified to Congress that "The Colombian military to date provides little cause for optimism."

The Clinton administration has responded to the guerrilla attacks by launching a multi-million dollar covert operation in southern Colombia, employing mercenaries, private contractors and active-duty military personnel, to support the Colombian armed forces. Active-duty personnel include U.S. Special Forces, former Green Berets, Gulf War veterans, and veterans from covert 1980’s CIA-backed operations in Central America. Some of our soldiers have been involved in direct combat with Colombian guerrillas. (3)

The program, which involves live-combat training, goes well beyond the stated U.S. mission of fighting drug traffickers. American special- forces trainers teach jungle maneuvering and psychological operations. (4) U.S. Marines provide police units with "foreign internal defense" (FID) training, including urban combat and special-warfare tactics. (5)

According to a 1991 law, programs such as the Pentagon's Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET) are allowed only if the primary purpose is to train U.S. troops. (5) In 1995, Congress passed measures intended to limit training of the Colombian military to counter-drug, rather than counterinsurgency exercises. (5) "If the administration wants to shift its policy to support counterinsurgency activities, then it should come to the Congress, and Congress should debate it," said Tim Rieser, an aide to U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy. (3)

US anti-drug aid to Colombia was estimated to be $100 million in 1997, up from $28 million in 1996. (6) According to the Government Accounting Office, only one-third of the counter-drug aid since 1990 has gone directly to anti-narcotics assistance, while the remaining two-thirds went for military-related expenditures. (3) Current expenditures include upgrading 10 helicopters used by Colombia's National Police and providing six new helicopters. (7) The Pentagon has secretly equipped Colombian units with night-vision equipment and heavy weapons, including M-60 machine guns. (5)

Some personnel participating in U.S. operations are working under a State Department contract with two private firms based in suburban Washington: Dyncorp and East Inc. U.S. civilian pilots, purportedly on coca eradication missions, have assisted in the deployment of Colombian counterinsurgency troops. (3)

Human Rights Watch reports that in 1990, a team of CIA and U.S. strategists gathered to assist Colombian military intelligence. The document produced at this meeting does not mention narcotics at all, but rather emphasizes combating "terrorism by armed subversion." In 1991, Colombia's high command issued secret order #200-05/91, implementing U.S. recommendations to create a system of intelligence networks. Many of the intelligence groups were later accused by human rights organizations of organizing the killings of civilians. (5) For years, Colombian General Ivan Ramirez Quintero served as a CIA asset while maintaining ties to paramilitary groups. (8)

Colombia's armed forces have one of the worst human rights records in the hemisphere, and have been frequently accused of close ties with ultra-right death squads. (9) The paramilitaries were responsible for 70 percent of the political murders in Colombia in 1997, according to the State Department's annual human rights report. Intelligence sources in Colombia and the United States say paramilitary groups are now operating large cocaine laboratories in Casanare and Meta provinces in central Colombia. (8)

The U.S. support for the "war on drugs" in Colombia does not strengthen democracy or respect human rights, nor does it stem the flow of drugs into the United States. Our support of the Colombian military, with their drug-trafficking paramilitary allies, is a tragic mistake.


Paul Wolf

August 25, 1998



References
(1) United Nations International Drug Control Programme (SCOPE) 3/3/98
(2) U.S. News and World Report, 5/11/98
(3) Dallas Morning News, 8/19/98
(4) New York Times 6/22/98
(5) Washington Post 7/13/98
(6) Chicago Tribune, 6/23/98
(7) Orange County Register 6/27/98
(8) Washington Post 8/11/98
(9) Reuters 8/1/98

The Western Hemisphere Drug Elimination Act

The Western Hemisphere Drug Elimination Act is a bill making its way through the U.S. Congress. The WHDE Act is intented to provide countries, primarily in Latin America, with assistance to ostensibly help curb the flow of narcotics into the United States.

We are concerned with Section 201 of the WHDE Act, which deals specifically with Colombia. We are not suggesting discarding the entire Act. We are only asking for Section 201 to be striken from the final version.

Compare the aid provided to Peru under this Act with that for Colombia. 86% ($150 million) of the aid to Peru is targeted to enhance USAID alternative development programs. In contrast, only 7% ($15 million) of the aid to Colombia is targeted for an alternative development program. The balance of the Colombian aid, roughly $200 million, is in the form of helicopters and other military gear.

If the United States government truly wishes to eliminate drugs in the western hemisphere, a more concerted effort should be made to provide Colombian peasants with alternatives to growing coca and opium. Alternative development programs are not a panacea, but they are a more constructive approach than the increased militarization of Colombia. By arming the Colombian security forces, the United States is becoming entangled in a "dirty war" that is slaughtering thousands of civilians.

You can find out more about the Western Hemisphere Drug Elimination Act, and our letter writing campaign, by visiting our webpage at:


http://www.prairienet.org/csncu