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Plan Colombia - 1999-2006

Plan Colombia commenced in 1999 as a multi-year effort to stem a decades' long spiral towards domestic violence, fueled by narcotics funding resulting from an increasingly robust drug industry. Plan Colombia provided funding to support increased security and counternarcotics efforts, and to address issues of rural development, rule of law, human rights, and support for displaced persons. The Clinton and Bush Administrations, and the Congress, expressed concern about the connection between the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC and other groups in Colombia and the drug trade. The Colombian government engaged in responding to this challenge.

Plan Colombia sharply increased US support to the Colombian military and the National Police, bringing with it a wide variety of military and intelligence related hardware and training, all with the goal of assisting the Government of Colombia in their efforts to resist the depredations of narcotics terrorists. The urgency of Plan Colombia was driven in some measure by increasing evidence that the terrorists were aligning themselves with the FARC and ELN - powerful terrorists groups that were bent on using everything within their means to bring the Colombian government to its knees and potentially forming a radical narcotics and criminally funded successor government. There existed a significant shortfall within the Colombian armed forces and police in their ability to collect tactical and strategical intelligence on the movements and activities of what was becoming a well organized and powerful narco-guerilla movement.

Plan Colombia aid took many forms, provision of helicopters, transfer of C-26 and AC-47 aircraft, extensive training of ground forces who were to operate in the some of the most dangerous areas of the countryside and help in establishing a significant unified command type base at Tres Esquinas in the southern part of the country. Plan Colombia also included provision of a U.S. derived intelligence and training of Colombian elements to improve collection and production of their own tactical and strategic intelligence.

The United States is providing more than one-billion dollars in aid, most of it in military equipment and training, to help the Colombian military combat drug trafficking and the armed groups that benefit from the illicit trade. Both the US and Colombian governments have said repeatedly there will be no U-S military intervention in the conflict. Policy enacted under the Clinton Administration limited the number of military trainers in Colombia to 400. As of early 2002 there were 250 American troops in Colombia, 50 Defense Department civilians and 100 contractors, some of whom operated aircraft that spray herbicide on Colombian coca fields.

The United States initially tried to establish a clear distinction between counter-narcotics and counter-insurgency in the country for multiple reasons -- one of them was simply that current legislation inhibited it from becoming involved in counter-insurgency efforts on a global level. The shift from drug trafficking organizations to terrorist organizations in terms of their representation of the FARC could essentially lead to a more direct counter-insurgent effort.

Comments by a top US official suggesting the United States might use military force against armed Colombian groups that Washington considers as terrorist organizations met with a swift, and largely negative, reaction in Colombia. The comments came from the State Department's chief of counter-terrorism, Francis Taylor, who was discussing how the Bush administration views the situation in Colombia after the September 11th terrorist attacks in the United States.

In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United States, providing support for counternarcotics and other anti-crime efforts around the world is more important than ever, according to James Mack, deputy assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs. Testifying 10 October 2001 before the House Committee on International Relations' subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Mack said that "[t]here often is a nexus between terrorism and organized crime," adding: "Many of the skills and types of equipment needed to attack organized crime are applicable to combating terrorism." He further noted that "the same criminal gangs involved in narcotics smuggling have links to other criminal activities and to terrorist groups."

In February 2002 the Bush Administration's 25-billion-dollar foreign affairs budget proposal for FY2002 included $98 million to help Colombia protect the strategic Cano-Limon-Covenas pipeline. The 700-kilometer long pipeline connects an oilfield in northeastern Colombia operated by the US-based Occidental Petroleum Corporation to a tanker port on the Caribbean coast. Guerrilla attacks had shut down the pipeline for 240 days during 2001, costing Colombia considerable revenue, causing serious environmental damage, and depriving the United States of an energy source. The pipeline-defense plan drew criticism from Senate Democrat Patrick Leahy, who said the proposal drew the United States further into what he termed a "military quagmire" in Colombia, and said Congress should be very reluctant to lend support. The US money would go to train two brigades of Colombian troops to protect the pipeline and eventually other parts of the country's infrastructure including power lines frequently targeted by guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

On 06 March 2002 the U.S. House of Representatives passed a non-binding resolution in support of Colombia and that country's efforts to "counter threats from U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations." The resolution called on President Bush to send legislation to Congress that would help Colombia protect itself from U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations and "the scourge of illicit narcotics."

On 18 March 2002 the United States indicted members of a Colombian guerrilla group for conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, and for manufacturing and distributing cocaine in Colombia with the intent of exporting it to the United States, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced. Ashcroft said the indictment charges three members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for drug trafficking, along with four other men, including three Brazilian nationals. Ashcroft said the indictment marks the convergence of two of the top priorities of his agency: "the prevention of terrorism and the reduction of illegal drug use."

In March 2002 The Bush administration drafted a plan to expand the US military role in Colombia from counterdrug training to anti-terrorism. The policy shift could require as many as 100 additional American troops to be sent to Colombia. On March 21, the Administration asked the Congress for new authorities. The terrorist and narcotics problems in Colombia are intertwined. President Bush recognized this link when he stated on April 18, after his meeting with President Pastrana, "We've put FARC, AUC on our terrorist list. We've called them for what they are. These are killers, who use killing and intimidation to foster political means... By fighting narco-trafficking, we're fighting the funding sources for these political terrorists. And sometimes they're interchangeable. It is essential for Colombia to succeed in this war against terror in order for her people to realize the vast potential of a great, democratic country ... I am confident that with the right leadership and the right help from America, ... Colombia can succeed. And it is in everybody's interests that she does succeed." The president added that he discussed with President Pastrana "how to change the focus of our strategy from counternarcotics to include counterterrorism."

In July 2002 the US Congress rolled back restrictions that had limited American aid to antidrug programs. The more broad-based U.S. assistance program for Colombia would enable Colombia to use U.S.-provided helicopters and the counter-drug brigade from Plan Colombia to fight terrorism some of the time, as needed. The White House proposal would maintain the 800-person cap on U.S. military personnel and contractors providing training and other services in Colombia. This will not exceed the 400-person cap on U.S. military personnel providing training in Colombia, nor the 400-person cap on U.S. civilian contractors. The new legal authorities sought by the White House allowed U.S. assistance to Colombia to be used to support a unified campaign against narcotics trafficking, terrorist activities, and other threats" to Colombia's national security.

In October 2002, eighteen months after an American missionary plane was mistakenly shot down, the United States resumed a campaign to help Colombia track and force down drug flights. The program was suspended in April 2001 in Colombia and Peru after a Peruvian warplane shot down the missionary flight over the Amazon, killing an American and her infant daughter. Colombian warplanes will intercept drug flights based on intelligence from the United States.

In a significant shift in American policy, in October 2002, United States Special Forces arrived in Colombia to lay the groundwork for training in counterinsurgency. Under a two year $94 million initiative, beginning January 2003 ten American helicopters will bolster the Colombian counterinsurgency efforts, and some 4,000 troops will receive American training. The troops will defend a 500-mile long pipeline, which snakes through eastern Colombia, transporting 100,000 barrels of oil a day for Occidental Petroleum of Los Angeles. The pipeline has long been vulnerable to bombings by Colombia's guerrilla groups. Pipeline bombings by the guerrillas cost the government nearly $500 million in 2001. The two main rebel groups, which view Occidental as a symbol of American imperialism, have bombed the pipeline nearly a thousand times since the 1980's. The Colombian military increased security, deploying five of the six battalions in the 6,000-man 18th Brigade to pipeline protection, up from just two battalions in 2001. The number of bombings fell to 30 in the first nine months of 2002, down from 170 in 2001.

The United States helped the government of Colombia to resume drug interdiction flights, which were suspended in April 2001 after a missionary plane was mistakenly shot down in Peru. The mishap resulted in the deaths of US missionary Veronica Bowers and her infant daughter, prompting authorities to insist on more stringent safety procedures before the anti-drug flight program could be re-launched. With a stronger emphasis on safety protocols, the Airbridge Denial program resumed in Colombia in late August 2003. To ensure that safety standards are maintained, the program's certification process will take place each year. In April 2003 the United States signed a bilateral agreement with the government of Colombia that spelled out procedures that will be followed in this program.

As of September 2003 there were more than 2,000 US personnel from 32 US agencies at the US embassy in Bogotá. This US embassy has surpassed the US embassy in Cairo as the largest US embassy in the world. As of July 2003 there were 358 US troops in Colombia, three times the 117 US troops in Colombia in November 2001. Five US citizens employed as contractors were killed in Colombia during 2003, and a total of 21 US government-titled aircraft had been downed since 1998.

Violence by narcoterrorist groups and other criminal elements continues to affect all parts of the country, urban and rural. Citizens of the United States and other countries continue to be the victims of threats, kidnappings, and other violence. This threat has increased recently in urban areas, including, but not limited to, Bogota, Cartagena and Barranquilla. Colombian terrorist groups also operate in the border areas of neighboring countries, creating similar dangers for travelers in those areas. Bombings have caused civilian casualties throughout Colombia. Targets include supermarkets, places of entertainment, and other areas where U.S. citizens congregate. There have been no security incidents, to our knowledge, on San Andres Island (off the coast of Nicaragua).

About 3,000 kidnapping incidents were reported throughout Colombia in 2002. Since the year 2000, 27 Americans were reported kidnapped in various parts of the country. American kidnap or murder victims have included journalists, missionaries, scientists, human rights workers, U.S. government employees and businesspeople, as well as persons on tourism or family visits, and even small children. No one can be considered immune on the basis of occupation, nationality or any other factor. Most kidnappings of U.S. citizens in Colombia have been committed by terrorist groups, including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), which have been designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations by the Secretary of State. Since it is U.S. policy not to make concessions to, or strike deals with, terrorists, the U.S. Government's ability to assist kidnapped U.S. citizens is limited.

Net coca cultivation in Colombia fell to 440 square miles in 2003 from 558 square miles in 2002 and 656 square miles in the peak growing year of 2001, according to the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy. The US had spent about $3.15 billion in Colombia since 2000, including about $2.5 billion is military and police assistance. Aadditional roles include protecting an oil pipeline partly owned by Occidental Petroleum, helping the Colombian military create a unit to eliminate guerilla leaders, and providing logistical data to help the military recapture rebel-held territory. While no US troops have died in Colombia since a 1999 plane crash, 11 US contractors have been killed since 1998, including six in 2003. Companies with U.S. government contracts for work in Colombia include Lockheed Martin Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp. and the DynCorp unit of Computer Sciences Corp.

In March 2004 the Bush administration asked Congress to increase by 75 percent the number of US troops and contractors in Colombia, citing the need to bolster its fight against drug traffickers and rebel fighters. The Bush administration wanted Congress to raise the cap on US soldiers and advisers to 800 from 400, and to increase the limit on civilian contractors to 600 from 400. These increases were approved in October 2004.