Plan Colombia The Drug War example essay topic

Plan Colombia The drug war has an enormous affect on American society from politics to families to the media. But has anyone ever stopped to think how the drug war is being conducted? Colombia, the number one importer to America for cocaine is undergoing a major drug war led by the United States at this very moment. Although the drug war has the best of intentions, its actions are hurting the Colombian ecosystem and the people who live there. Colombia, a small South American country is in the gasps of an on-going civil war between its current government of democrats and its revolting communists, known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, also known as the FARC (Department of State). In order to support their cause, the FARC has resorted to growing cocaine and transporting it to the United States and other countries of the world.

The FARC was established in 1964 and is Colombia's strongest and longest lasting Marxist revolutionary group (Department of State). The FARC are highly trained in guerilla tactics and have engaged in terrorism, bombings, extortion, and kidnappings (Department of State). Their methods are not a concern to the U.S. Government; it is how they support themselves that has caught the eye of the government. In 1999, at the end of President Clinton's presidency, with bilateral support from both chambers of Congress, Plan Colombia was passed and was to take effect in 2001 (Chomsky). Plan Colombia called for monetary and military support in order to help defeat the FARC led communist revolution. It bankrolled $1.3 billion dollars into the Colombian economy, 16 Blackhawk UH-60 helicopters, and many covert CIA-led operations (Dao).

The main point of Plan Colombia was the spraying of cocaine fields. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. was in the midst of a massacre. They did not yet know the war fighting tactics that the Vietcong guerillas were using, and the many jungles of Vietnam made it exceptionally difficult for the U.S. military to rat out their enemy. In order to fight the guerillas hiding in the jungle, the U.S. called for the use of a chemical weapon dubbed "Agent Orange" (Donahue). Agent Orange was sprayed on the jungles and effectively burned the jungles to where they were barren and visible land. The problem was, however, that innocent people were being burned with Agent Orange (Donahue).

Agent Orange also left its chemicals in the ground to where they still exist to this very day and are affecting the people who live on lands on and near these chemicals. Pregnant mothers are having stillborn children; children are being born with numerous rare birth defects; older adults are contracting rare diseases at high rates in the area (Donahue). Because of the drastic health effects Agent Orange had on its victims, in the midst of the Vietnam War, Congress put a stop to the use of Agent Orange and put into law a ban on any further use of Agent Orange by the military anywhere in the world (Donahue). Today, the U.S. government has taken out a few chemicals in Agent Orange, added a few different chemicals, and has basically produced the exact same thing as Agent Orange, but gave it a new name "Agent Green" (Donahue). The spraying of Agent Green is happening at this very moment on Colombian drug fields and it is perfectly legal because it does not contain a few chemicals that were outlawed by Congress during the Vietnam War (Gorman). But the FARC anticipated this, and was one step ahead of the U.S. and Colombian governments.

The FARC grows cocaine on small plots next to innocent cash-crop farmers, and does this all over Southern Colombia. The Agent Green has a drastic effect on these cash-crop farmers, and their health. It has been found in the playgrounds of elementary schools, cash-crop farms, and is DESTROYING the natural Amazonian ecosystem of Colombia (Olson). What's worse is that in fiscal year 2000, the U.S. put into its budget a $23 million dollar research program for the use of fusarium-oxysporum, a biological agent that the Florida Environmental Protection Agency dubbed "inherently unstoppable if released into natural ecosystems (Cockburn)". Fusaria is a fungus that spreads like a wildfire; it destroys every living plant organism in its way and is basically impossible to stop (Cockburn). Releasing this agent into the Amazonian ecosystems will basically bring the end of the Amazonian rainforests, which are necessary for planetary survival due to their production of sixty-percent of the world's oxygen supply (Olson).

The use of Agent Green is also causing the displacement of Colombia's many indigenous populations (Jelsma). Because the FARC works mainly in rural areas of Southern Colombia, those are the areas that are being sprayed. As stated earlier, many innocent farmers are also being sprayed and losing their cash-crops. These farmers then become failed farmers; they are people who have planted the land for hundreds of years but are failing and must leave in search of other ways to feed their families. Since the spraying started in the early 90's, Colombia has seen a massive increase of migration to the cities by rural farmers (Jelsma). These migrating farmers have no skills to work in the cities, and end up starving in many of Colombia's urban modern day shanty-towns.

The argument the vast and numerous proponents Plan Colombia argue is that it is a successful way to fight the on-going drug war that is demoralizing and tearing American society apart. The fact that Plan Colombia has all of the best intentions is not at controversy here, however. It is the effects that it is having on Colombian people, on its ecosystems, and the potential social and ecological effects that it can have on Colombia's surrounding neighbors. Besides the fact that it is and has the potential of creating so many harms, the government keeps protesting that this is a successful way of fighting the Colombian drug war.

Indeed, the cocaine production in Colombia has fallen. But the startling bizarre fact is that cocaine usage in America has INCREASED (Gorman). Obviously, something here is going wrong in the drug war. Proponents believe Plan Colombia is a success in the battle with drugs.

But how can they justify the way that they are tearing apart many aspects of Colombian and potentially South American way of life? Just because America is being torn apart by drugs is not a moral justification to treat Colombia the way it wants. Plan Colombia has come under scrutiny by many organizations and individuals. Most noted is author Tom Clancy's book, Clear and Present Danger. As of the moment, many alternative ways to fighting the drug war have been introduced to Congress and the Department of Defense and Department of State, but have all been deemed as potentially and most likely "unsuccessful" (Gorman). Many reach the reasonable to the bizarre, as opponents of Plan Colombia have gone to the extreme by introducing plans to actually pay the FARC in order to stop growing their cocaine plants.

There is a basic underlying question opponents and proponents of Plan Colombia must ask themselves: is there justification to the way we are treating Colombia? Indeed, the pro-democratic regime and current stronghold government of Colombia supports the U.S. involvement in Colombia, but who would refuse oodles of humanitarian, military, and monetary aid? Would the Colombian government in their right mind turn down a support package of America's best fighter helicopters, civilian farm airplanes, military training, covert operations training, and $1.3 billon dollars? It's highly doubtful that a third world country would turn down such aid for any reason. The fact of the matter is, however, that there is no such moral justification for our current action in Colombia. There is no way proponents can face the public and tell them of how they are tearing apart the ecosystem, forcing indigenous people to migrate, and harming the health of hundreds of thousands of people.

There is NO right. Absolutely none. Anytime the government wants to fight the drug war, there are never any bad intentions, but the way they may carry out these good intentions could result in disaster and harms for many people. The way we conduct ourselves in Colombia to fight the drug war is highly controversial and needs immediate action. Plan Colombia needs change and needs it fast before we release even more harmful biological agents such as fusaria-oxysporum that could potentially and will devastate and destroy the vast Amazonian and Andes region vital and sensitive ecosystems.

Chomsky, Noam. The Colombia Plan. Apr. 2000.20 Nov. 2002. Cockburn, Alexander and Jeffrey St. Clair.

"The Massive Military Escalation of the Drug War". Counterpunch. 2000 June: 7-11. Dao, James. "New Aid Package to Colombia". New York Times 31 July 2000.11 Nov 2002...

Donahue, Sean. "U.S. Government's Private Chemical War on Drugs". Peace work. 2000 May. 26-27.

Gorman, Peter. "Scorched Earth Policy". Fort Worth Weekly 13-19 March 2003. Pg 8-12.

Jelsma, Martin. The Viscous Circle. 2000 March. 20 Nov. 2002. Olson, David.

Colombian Spraying Destroying Vast Ecosystems of Colombia. 2001 June. 21 Nov 2002. United States. U.S. Navy. U.S. Department of State. Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Washington: Library of Congress, 2002.