THE CLINTON administration has just made a rash decision by more than doubling military aid to Colombia. While the aid ostensibly is going to fight the drug war, the Colombian government itself is implicated in the drug trade. And Colombia's military is one of the most brutal in the hemisphere.
On Nov. 9, a Colombian air force cargo plane landed at Fort
Lauderdale International Airport with 1,600 pounds of cocaine hidden aboard the aircraft.
Gen. Jose Manuel Sandoval, Colombia's air force chief, resigned two days after U.S. officials discovered the cocaine-laden plane. He is the first Colombian branch commander to quit over a drug scandal. Colombian authorities have arrested security chief Gonzalo Noguera from the Bogota base where the plane originated.
Corruption affects all facets of Colombia's internal structure. In 1996, when former President Ernesto Samper was visiting the United Nations to deliver an anti-drug speech, officials found eight pounds of heroin in the nose of his official airplane. Mr. Samper was alleged to have received $6 million in campaign contributions from a drug cartel.
The United States is making the case that the increased aid to the Colombian National Police is necessary to fight the drug war. But what about the drug traffickers within the government?
The aid, now close to $300 million, will be in the form of weapons, surveillance planes and Blackhawk helicopters for the Colombian police.
It may exacerbate the country's civil war, not help end it. Colombia has suffered from a civil war involving leftist insurgents, paramilitary groups, drug lords and the Colombian government. The military and paramilitary squads associated with it have been responsible for the deaths of thousands of political opponents, trade unionists, peasants, teachers and human-rights activists.
Currently, Mr. Pastrana is engaging in peace talks with the rebels. But with the massive amount of military aid, he may opt to intensify war.
The Clinton administration claims the aid will go to fight drug trafficking, but it easily could go to fight the Colombian rebels.
We don't want another Vietnam in Colombia.
Adriana Lopez is a free-lance writer living in New York City. She wrote this for the Progressive Media Project, based in Madison, Wisc.
Pub Date: 12/08/98