Oberlin
Student Challenges Plan Colombia
by Michelle Sharkey
While
many Oberlin students spent their Winter Term learning to knit or
catching up on sleep, Oberlin sophomore Anna Hendricks traveled
to Colombia to examine first-hand the effects of the U.S.s
$1.3 billion military aid package, known as Plan Colombia. A key
element of the ongoing War on Drugs, the goals of Plan
Colombia include curbing the drug supply that leaves the nation,
the worlds leading producer of cocaine. However, in the 10
days Hendricks spent meeting with farmers, labor leaders and government
officials, she discovered that the goals of the Plan are far more
complex. Plan Colombia will make Colombia ready for globalization
through violence [and] through intimidation, Hendricks said.
Much of the $1.3 billion in U.S. tax dollars earmarked for Plan
Colombia goes directly to anti-narcotic efforts. Part of the program
involves using U.S. manufactured aircraft to spray pesticides onto
coca farms, eradicating the crop used to manufacture cocaine. After
examining the situation in Colombia, Hendricks came to the conclusion
that the fumigation program is ultimately ineffective. If
you fumigate someones crops and dont give them enough
money, theyre going to keep growing coca, Hendricks
said.
Hendricks emphasized that subsidiary programs for farmers who lose
their crop are rarely effective, as individual farmers are unable
to compete with large-scale produce distributors. Therefore, Colombian
farmers continue to turn to coca as the only viable crop to sustain
their farms. Alternatives to the fumigation plan have been proposed
by Colombian leaders but have been rejected by the U.S. Congress
as unworkable.
By examining first-hand the effects of Plan Colombia, Hendricks
came to the conclusion that the Plan is about much more than drugs.
Geographically, Colombia is situated at the head of South America,
and has been called the gateway to the FTAA (Free Trade
Agreement of the Americas), according to Hendricks. By stabilizing
Colombia, a nation engaged in a civil war, the U.S. could make it
easier for economic investment. If youre going to make
South American countries [economically] similar to the United States,
you need a labor force and consumers, not farmers, Hendricks
said. Stabilizing Colombia would also open up the countrys
wealth of natural resources, including oil, to the global market.
Hendricks also witnessed how U.S. military aid contributes to violence
in Colombia. The civil war in Colombia involves conflict between
the military as well as paramilitary and guerrilla forces. The
paramilitary forces
commit 79 percent of human rights offenses.
The military work with the paramilitary, and were funding
the military, Hendricks said. In her view, American tax dollars
are contributing directly to violence in Colombia, where 30,000
people die every year.
The violence in Colombia is not confined to the military, but rather
is a daily part of life for civilians. Hendricks met with several
families who had been affected by the conflict, including one father
whose son was killed in a massacre of 10 students. These families
dont want any more military anywhere
the military,
paramilitary and guerilla forces are all against them, Hendricks
said.
Some Colombians encouraged Hendricks to take action, expressing
distaste for what they see as political tourism, coming
into a country like Colombia to examine the situation, but accomplishing
little to no change in the situation at home. For Hendricks, a sense
of responsibility for U.S. policies emerged out of all that she
saw in Colombia. We made a commitment to get thousands of
people to protest [Plan Colombia] in Washington, D.C. in April,
Hendricks said. We do have a say, however small that say is.
Hendricks traveled to Colombia as a part of a 10-person student
delegation with Witness For Peace, a non-violent organization whose
primary goal is to change U.S. policy in Latin America by educating
U.S. citizens. After spending Winter Term learning about U.S. policies
in Colombia, Hendricks hopes to spread awareness of these issues,
beginning with the Oberlin campus. My job is to educate people
who dont have the resources to go to Colombia themselves,
Hendricks said.
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