El Plan Columbia
One of the main objectives of ‘El Plan Colombia’ was to disrupt and reduce the drug trade in Colombia. The Colombian government planned to reduce the number of coca crops in order to reduce the overall amount of cocaine being produced in Colombia. According to the US non-governmental organization, Washington Office of Latin America (WOLA), ‘El Plan Colombia’ helped to aerially fumigate more than 1.6 million hectares of Coca plants in the country. 9 A consequence of this aerial fumigation was that Colombia's population was in danger because glyphosate, a chemical used in the aerial fumigations, is a carcinogenic substance. Furthermore, according to WOLA, the aerial fumigation strategy didn’t even work and land that was cultivated with coca increased from48,000 to 69,000km 2 . 10 In 2015 Colombian security forces seized 252 tonnes of cocaine, highlighting the fact that ‘El Plan Colombia’ failed in its principal objective of reducing the amount of cocaine produced in Colombia. Furthermore, Colombia has become the w orld’s leading producer of coca. Diana Rojas stated that, ‘ The plan has made drug trafficking fragmented, making it harder to fight against it. ’ 11 In c onclusion, ‘El Plan Colombia’ has failed in its main objective, to reduce the amount of cocaine being trafficked to the US from Colombia, and as a result it has cost the US government over $10 billion in military aid. ‘El Plan Colombia’ hasn’t come close to disrupting the drug cartels because Colombia has become the largest producer of cocaine in the world, thus rendering the billions of dollars the US government invested into the Colombian counter-narcotic divisions inef fective. Furthermore, ‘El Plan Colombia’ has created many human rights violations and caused the Colombian people to become victimized. This war has caused more than 220,000 deaths over the last five decades and this ‘ democratic security ’ offensive has caused more than 7 million people to be displaced. 12 Moreover, while ‘El Plan Colombia’ has created peace between FARC and the Colombian governme nt, it has left Colombia with over 11,000 casualties due to Landmines. 13 Although ‘El Plan Colombia’ succeeded in creating peace, it has left Colombia in difficulties and in need of serious aid.
Bibliography
Cooper, M. (2001) ‘ Plan Colombia:wrong issue, wrong enemy, wrong country ’ , at https://www.thenation.com/article/plan-colombia/ Date Consulted: 6/7/19 Cosoy, N. (2016) ‘Has Plan Colombia really worked? ’ at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world- latin-america-35491504 Date Consulted: 8/7/19 Encyclopaedia Britannica. ‘ Andrés Pastrana Arango, President of Colombia ’, at https://www.britannica.com/biography/Andres-Pastrana-Arango#ref1074318 Date Consulted: 7/7/19 History.com. (2019) ‘ History of Drug Trafficking ’, at https://www.history.com/topics/crime/history-of-drug-trafficking Date consulted: 23/08/19 Miroff, N. (2016) ‘The staggering toll of Colombia’s war with FARC rebels, explained i n numbers ‘, at https://www.washingtonpostss.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/08/24/the-staggering- toll-of-colombias-war-with-farc-rebels-explained-in-numbers/ Date Consulted: 23/08/19 9 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-35491504 10 Ibid. 11 Ibid. 12 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/08/24/the-staggering-toll-of-colombias-war- with-farc-rebels-explained-in-numbers/ 13 Ibid.
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