Pubdate: Sun, 10 Sep 2006
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2006 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst Newspaper
Contact:  http://www.chron.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/198
Author: John Otis, South American Bureau

USAID PULLS OUT OF COLOMBIA SOUTH

Officials Say Rebel Strongholds Too Dangerous But Some Call It Choice Of
Force Over Help

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - Although the southern jungles of Colombia are
ground zero for the war against Marxist guerrillas and cocaine
traffickers, a U.S.-backed program to persuade some of the region's
drug farmers to switch to legal crops has been suspended.

In southern Caqueta state, a longtime rebel stronghold, the U.S.
Agency for International Development, or USAID, has pulled out of the
campaign because the region lacked economic potential and was
considered too dangerous for the agency's workers, according to a
Colombian government memo.

The program, jointly administered by the U.S. and Colombia, was one of
several alternative-development projects to wean peasant farmers from
drug crops and steer them into legal livelihoods ranging from
fish-farming to pineapple-growing.

Between now and 2008, nearly all of the State Department agency's $70
million annual budget for alternative development in Colombia will be
channeled to more secure areas where the programs have a better shot
at success.

"You can't be everywhere simultaneously, and you have to make
choices," said an official at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota. "Resources
have to be focused where they can be used most effectively."

But at a time when Washington is underwriting Colombia's largest-ever
military push into the south as well as an aerial fumigation drive to
destroy fields of coca, the plant used to make cocaine, some critics
call the strategy an example of all stick and no carrot.

"This is not a good way to win hearts and minds," said Sanho Tree, a
Colombia expert at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington.
"We're driving people away from the government and into the hands of
our declared enemies: the guerrillas and the drug traffickers."

Tree and others point out that a key goal of Plan Colombia - the
counter-drug and counterinsurgency campaign that has cost U.S.
taxpayers more than $4 billion since 2000 - is intended to help the
Bogota government establish control and a thriving legal economy in
many areas that have been left out of the U.S. aid agency's plans.

Costing U.S. Taxpayers

"This decision runs contrary the whole concept of Plan Colombia," said
Luis Fernando Almario, a congressman from Caqueta.

The U.S. and Colombian governments have long promised that
humanitarian aid would flow into the south once the area was secured.
Counterinsurgency experts say that such assistance is key to
consolidating territorial control and support for civilian officials.

But about 80 percent of U.S. aid to Colombia still goes to the
military and the police.

Except for Putumayo, the state first targeted by Plan Colombia six
years ago, the rebel and drug-infested region of southern Colombia has
received only small amounts of aid for alternative
development.

"We haven't received anything from USAID," said Pedro Arenas, a former
Colombian congressman from Guaviare state.

An even bigger problem, experts say, is that Bogota officials have
long ignored Colombia's deep south.

Poverty, widespread unemployment and a lack of decent roads, schools
and hospitals "were problems back in the 1960s and here we are 40
years later," said Bruce Bagley, an international studies professor at
the University of Miami.

Thus, persuading coca farmers to abandon their lucrative coca bushes
to raise legal crops remains a challenge. Referring to the potholed
gravel roads of southern Putumayo state, Tree said, "Peasants drive to
market with a load of tomatoes and end up with ketchup."

Changing Tactics

Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime, recently urged Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to
launch a major humanitarian aid drive to help farmers get out of the
drug business.

"There should be a change in tactics, using finer and more sustainable
instruments," Costa said in June.

Several USAID funded projects have faltered because of poor planning,
corrupt local officials and security problems. As a result, USAID, has
become more selective.

Last month, the agency unveiled its alternative development blueprint
for 2006-08, which includes everything from reforestation to raising
cocoa beans.

Most of these projects are slated for northern and central Colombia.
All told, the projects will help create more than 177,000 jobs,
according to U.S. Ambassador William Wood.

But Adam Isacson, a Colombia expert at the Center for International
Policy in Washington, insists that writing off the war-torn south
would be a grave error. Drawing parallels to the war in Iraq, he
likened the current approach to saying: "Forget about the Sunni Triangle." 
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MAP posted-by: Steve Heath