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On Politics and Drugs: A Look at the Recent Events
Amira Armenta - Drugs & Democracy Programme
TNI Website, 28 September 2001

On 11 September, Secretary of State Collin Powell was expected to arrive at Bogota, to review the progress made in Plan Colombia's anti-narcotic programme and present President Bush's new Andean Region Initiative -the latest strategic programme to combat the drug trade.

The fumigation of illicit crops is an essential component of Washington's war on drugs in Colombia. With the intent on eliminating 245.000 acres of coca and poppy, Colombia's special Anti-narcotic Police force began a new wave of aerial spraying in the country's southernmost region; this was just a few days prior to the expected visit. For reasons known to all, Powell did not arrive. Within the new global scheme, the issues related to drugs seem to have been put momentarily aside.

While the current agenda is still to be defined, the course of program -fumigation- continues on its way. After 11 September, the press -both in Colombia as well as in the United States- has made little or no allusion to the problems and controversies that are rooted in the concerns for health and the environment. Nevertheless, the protest and voices of opposition to fumigations are ever present. On 20 September, the governors of six southern Colombian departments reiterated their rejection towards the spraying of illicit crops and their support for manual eradication with the help of indigenous communities and peasant groups.

Analysts concur that a country like Colombia, having a complex internal conflict associated with the drug trade, fits perfectly within the new era of concern about terrorism. If the insurgent groups continue to finance themselves through the drug trade and use these same resources to launch attacks that destabilise the region, the United States will eventually involve itself even more into the Colombian conflict.

The drums of "war" against terrorism are already echoing in Colombia. The three insurgent or paramilitary groups - FACR, the ELN and the AUC- are found among those groups listed as terrorist organisations by the US Department of State. With this in mind, the prospects for Colombia are centred more around US military aid and less tolerance for the autochthonous Peace Process. US active participation in any kind of peace process seems to be completely excluded.

Plan Colombia is not big priority for Washington at the moment. US Congress will most probably avoid engaging in the polemic issues related to the fumigations or support for the military. Nevertheless, now that the United States is bent on confronting the Taliban in Afghanistan - a country that until last year produced 70% of the world's heroin produce - it will not be long before the drug trade rises to the top in the list of priorities.