MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Plan Colombia short of narcotics goal, but boosted security

The five billion dollars US aid package known as the Plan Colombia failed to halve illegal narcotics production in Colombia, according to a report from the US Congress General Accounting Office, GAO.

The report however points out that the military assistance helped Colombia markedly improve security, with kidnapping and murder rates falling and the Armed Forces greatly diminishing effective action from the cocaine funded insurgents' organizations. The report also coincides with the announcement that 650 million US dollars in aid for Colombia will be axed because of the US financial crisis. The strong military presence in Colombian jungles and some spectacular successes such as the liberation of rebel held hostages and killings of leaders from the FARC group have been tainted with allegations of human rights abuses against civilians, the latest of which forced the resignation of the Commander in Chief of the Army. More over in spite of the huge resources and record aerial eradication, coca cultivation rose by 15% in Colombia during Plan Colombia's 2000-2006 run, adds the report. In effect cocaine production rose by less (4%) because eradication efforts forced growers to more widely disperse their crops, contributing to lower yields. Opium cultivation and heroin production did, however, decline by 50% over the period. Colombia remains the source of 90% of the cocaine in the United States and most of the heroin consumed east of the Mississippi river. The GAO report was requested by Vice President-elect Joseph Biden, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations committee, and offers recommendations for aid cuts. Its authors recommend US and Colombian officials "develop a joint plan for turning over operational and funding responsibilities for US-supported programs to Colombia". Over what period remains unclear and the report cautions that Colombia's security gains are "not irreversible" as long as rebels remain a threat. The ranks of Colombia's military and police rose to 415,000 from 279,000 from 2000-2007, the report notes, while the FARC, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia diminished by half to about 8,000 fighters. Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos said Wednesday that US Democrats are divided over whether to change the roughly 2-to-1 balance of military versus economic aid. He said he hoped pending discussions with yet-to-be named members of Obama's administration would result in "cuts that are the fewest painful possible." Plan Colombia was announced in 1999 and was an initiative of then-President Andres Pastrana and US President Bill Clinton.