Post by Origanalist on Sept 25, 2017 6:31:02 GMT -8
Drug War still used as front for Cold War meddling, military interventions.
By BRIAN SAADY • September 25, 2017
President Trump took a tough tone on international drug trafficking last week, warning Colombia it could lose foreign aid if it cannot contain its illicit coca production and smuggling. But Colombia need not worry—Trump stopped short of designating it “non-compliant” under current foreign aid requirements, because “the Colombian National Police and Armed Forces are close law enforcement and security partners of the United States.” which has little to do with drugs and everything to do with protecting U.S. interests in the region.
In other words, Trump acknowledged plainly what so many other American politicians have been unwilling to admit—the Drug War is just a pretense for continuing Cold War meddling in the Western Hemisphere. Why else would he instead take action against Venezuela and Bolivia (two left-wing governments with Venezuela’s Nicholas Meduro regime teetering on the brink of economic and political collapse) for their own respective drug trade?
Pursuant to section 706(2)(A) of the FRAA, I hereby designate Bolivia and Venezuela as countries that have failed demonstrably during the previous 12 months to adhere to their obligations under international counternarcotics agreements, and to take the measures required by section 489(a)(1) of the FAA.
A few geopolitical factors seemingly led to this confrontational gesture against Colombia at this week’s UN meetings. Trump has made it a point not rule out a “military option” in Venezuela. Although Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos is a critic of Maduro, the Nobel Peace Prize winner has made it clear that Colombia would only support a non-violent solution with their neighbor to the east.
The war hawks in D.C. are no fan of the center-right Santos who is serving his final term. However, the next election is in May of 2018, and looming in the background is a revolutionary leftist and former communist guerrilla fighter, Gustavo Petro, who, much to the chagrin of the hawks, is now leading in the polls.
But alas, the Drug War serves as an effective method for applying pressure to foreign governments. During a hearing last Tuesday, the Co-Chairman of the Senate Drug Caucus, Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), threatened to cut off Plan Colombia’s funding if the country’s coca production levels aren’t reduced. Plan Colombia is a U.S. counternarcotics program, primarily in the form of military aid. Your tax dollars have funded this program to the tune of $10 billion over the last 17 years, with a large portion of that budget benefiting private U.S. defense contractors. Basically U.S. military, DEA and private military forces have been operating in concert with local law enforcement and Colombian forces on the ground there since the Clinton administration as if there has been a real war, not just the Drug War. However, Colombia’s cocaine production levels have ebbed and flowed in the past without the level of political scrutiny it’s now receiving from the Trump Administration.
What has Plan Colombia accomplished? The other co-chairman of the Senate Drug Caucus, Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), opened the same hearing last week on a more positive note, citing that coca production had been “drastically reduced by 2012.” However, that does not seem to reflect what the President, nor other officials have said, pointing out that production today is on the rise.
Nevertheless, Grassley essentially tipped his hand to the unofficial motivation behind Plan Colombia. While touting the program’s perceived cocaine supply reduction, Grassley said, “…and more importantly, the FARC was significantly weakened.”
If you’re not familiar, the FARC is Colombia’s most powerful communist rebel organization. This group entered into a peace agreement last year with the Colombian government, ending a 52-year civil war.
In short, this was a civil war between Colombia’s military, right-wing paramilitary groups, and communist rebel forces. Roughly 220,000 people were killed, with an estimated 80% of the victims being non-combatants. Also, the warfare forced another 5.7 million Colombians to flee their homes and live as refugees within their homeland.
Ending this horrific human tragedy was obviously a positive development, but we need to revisit the U.S. government’s role in this war. The two main combatants were the FARC and Colombia’s top paramilitary force, the AUC. Both groups were designated by the U.S. State Department as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
However, the U.S. unofficially supported the AUC despite clear evidence of demonstrably worse human rights violations. A report by the National Centre of Historical Memory found that 1,982 massacres were committed between 1980 and 2012. That study attributed 1,166 such atrocities to paramilitary groups as opposed to 343 for the communist rebels.
continued.. www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/drugs-drugwar-colombia-honduras-cartels-communists-and-plan-columbia/
By BRIAN SAADY • September 25, 2017
President Trump took a tough tone on international drug trafficking last week, warning Colombia it could lose foreign aid if it cannot contain its illicit coca production and smuggling. But Colombia need not worry—Trump stopped short of designating it “non-compliant” under current foreign aid requirements, because “the Colombian National Police and Armed Forces are close law enforcement and security partners of the United States.” which has little to do with drugs and everything to do with protecting U.S. interests in the region.
In other words, Trump acknowledged plainly what so many other American politicians have been unwilling to admit—the Drug War is just a pretense for continuing Cold War meddling in the Western Hemisphere. Why else would he instead take action against Venezuela and Bolivia (two left-wing governments with Venezuela’s Nicholas Meduro regime teetering on the brink of economic and political collapse) for their own respective drug trade?
Pursuant to section 706(2)(A) of the FRAA, I hereby designate Bolivia and Venezuela as countries that have failed demonstrably during the previous 12 months to adhere to their obligations under international counternarcotics agreements, and to take the measures required by section 489(a)(1) of the FAA.
A few geopolitical factors seemingly led to this confrontational gesture against Colombia at this week’s UN meetings. Trump has made it a point not rule out a “military option” in Venezuela. Although Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos is a critic of Maduro, the Nobel Peace Prize winner has made it clear that Colombia would only support a non-violent solution with their neighbor to the east.
The war hawks in D.C. are no fan of the center-right Santos who is serving his final term. However, the next election is in May of 2018, and looming in the background is a revolutionary leftist and former communist guerrilla fighter, Gustavo Petro, who, much to the chagrin of the hawks, is now leading in the polls.
But alas, the Drug War serves as an effective method for applying pressure to foreign governments. During a hearing last Tuesday, the Co-Chairman of the Senate Drug Caucus, Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), threatened to cut off Plan Colombia’s funding if the country’s coca production levels aren’t reduced. Plan Colombia is a U.S. counternarcotics program, primarily in the form of military aid. Your tax dollars have funded this program to the tune of $10 billion over the last 17 years, with a large portion of that budget benefiting private U.S. defense contractors. Basically U.S. military, DEA and private military forces have been operating in concert with local law enforcement and Colombian forces on the ground there since the Clinton administration as if there has been a real war, not just the Drug War. However, Colombia’s cocaine production levels have ebbed and flowed in the past without the level of political scrutiny it’s now receiving from the Trump Administration.
What has Plan Colombia accomplished? The other co-chairman of the Senate Drug Caucus, Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), opened the same hearing last week on a more positive note, citing that coca production had been “drastically reduced by 2012.” However, that does not seem to reflect what the President, nor other officials have said, pointing out that production today is on the rise.
Nevertheless, Grassley essentially tipped his hand to the unofficial motivation behind Plan Colombia. While touting the program’s perceived cocaine supply reduction, Grassley said, “…and more importantly, the FARC was significantly weakened.”
If you’re not familiar, the FARC is Colombia’s most powerful communist rebel organization. This group entered into a peace agreement last year with the Colombian government, ending a 52-year civil war.
In short, this was a civil war between Colombia’s military, right-wing paramilitary groups, and communist rebel forces. Roughly 220,000 people were killed, with an estimated 80% of the victims being non-combatants. Also, the warfare forced another 5.7 million Colombians to flee their homes and live as refugees within their homeland.
Ending this horrific human tragedy was obviously a positive development, but we need to revisit the U.S. government’s role in this war. The two main combatants were the FARC and Colombia’s top paramilitary force, the AUC. Both groups were designated by the U.S. State Department as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
However, the U.S. unofficially supported the AUC despite clear evidence of demonstrably worse human rights violations. A report by the National Centre of Historical Memory found that 1,982 massacres were committed between 1980 and 2012. That study attributed 1,166 such atrocities to paramilitary groups as opposed to 343 for the communist rebels.
continued.. www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/drugs-drugwar-colombia-honduras-cartels-communists-and-plan-columbia/