Criticize Plan Colombia, but don't Forget FARC
By Aaron Mannes
Last week Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe visited Washington to meet congressional leaders and push for a free trade agreement. Prior to the 2006 elections this would have been (to abuse the now oft-quoted phrase) a "slam dunk." Uribe has been Washington's most vocal supporter in the region, he is immensely popular at home, and he has had real success restoring order within Colombia.
Instead, according to both long-time critics of Plan Colombia (the multi-billion dollar U.S. aid package to Colombia) and long-time supporters the trip was apparently a debacle. The Democratic congress is not keen on Plan Colombia or a U.S.-Colombia Free Trade pact. The Democrats have been accused of using revelations of human rights abuses as a fig leaf for doing the AFL-CIO's bidding and killing the Free Trade Agreement. This is not entirely fair, as the human rights situation in Colombia is abysmal (although it has been abysmal for decades now). There have been a steady stream of revelations about high-level contacts between the military, the para-militaries, and politicians close to Uribe. Uribe himself has remained popular.
The Democrats should consider their next moves carefully. It is easy to bash Republican policies (although Plan Colombia was initially formulated under the Clinton Administration.) Only a decade ago, Colombia was on the verge of being a failed state, now the situation has stabilized. But much remains to be done, and it is entirely conceivable that the situation could take a turn for the worse.
At the same the FARC remains a major concern, a well funded terrorist group with both the desire and the capability to wreak havoc not only in Colombia but throughout the hemisphere (for more read this report on the FARC's hemisphere-wide reach.) While the paramilitaries are absolutely loathesome, they are not expressly political (they were formed when the state proved unable to secure large sections of the country). Despite conventional wisdom that the FARC is really just about drug trafficking, at least some parts of it remain a Maoist guerilla movement that explicitly seeks to overthrow the Colombian state and spread its radical ideology. The FARC needs to be kept under pressure - failure to do so will destabilize Colombia and its neighbors.
Finally, bashing Uribe sends the wrong message to Latin America. If the U.S. turns on its closest, most loyal regional ally, other leaders will not be tempted to support American initiatives.
The Democrats in Congress have every reason to ask hard questions about Plan Colombia, the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, and Colombia's human right's record. But they should also not turn it into a political football. The stakes are too high, for Colombia, the United States, and the hemisphere.