Pubdate: Sat, 09 Mar 2002
Source: Intelligencer Journal (PA)
Copyright: 2002 Lancaster Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.lancnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/211
Author: Justin Quinn
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/colombia.htm (Colombia)

"HUMAN RIGHTS DISASTER"

War On Drugs Has Gone All Wrong, Local Witness Says

Witness: Says War On Drugs In Colombia Is Dangerous, Counterproductive

Akron teen-ager Ally Styan wants to tell local residents how a key 
battle in the war on drugs is being lost in Colombia.

While the U.S. State Department disagrees with her, two Lancaster 
County Congressmen have opposed federal aid packages to Colombia and 
agree that money earmarked for the eradication of cocaine there has 
probably been misused.

Styan, 18, went to Colombia in January with a local chapter of the 
national human rights organization Witness For Peace. The group went 
to see how the U.S. government's financial and military support was 
being used by the Colombian government.

They were appalled by what they saw.

"There is no decrease in the production of cocaine," Styan said. 
"Instead, most of the money has gone to the Colombian military and 
has created a human rights disaster."

Styan is not new to protesting the U.S. government's foreign policies.

Most recently, she was acquitted of multiple charges for her role in 
a protest outside the 2000 Republican National Convention in 
Philadelphia. The demonstration was against the Western Hemisphere 
Institute for Security Cooperation, a U.S.-funded school formerly 
known as the School of the Americas.

Styan remains active in the protest movement, but also wants to use 
the court of public opinion to help raise awareness to the plight of 
the Colombian people. Over the next two months, she is set to hold 
several talks throughout Lancaster County. The first is scheduled for 
7 p.m. March 19 at Community Mennonite Church of Lancaster, 328 W. 
Orange St.

"What many people don't realize is that people in Colombia do not 
want to be growing cocaine," Styan said. "They grow it because it's 
the only way they can make money."

During the Clinton administration, Congress passed a $1.3 billion aid 
package for Colombia to bolster the country's military. The money was 
to be used mostly for counternarcotics programs like the fumigation 
of cocoa fields and the enforcement of the country's drug laws.

To a lesser degree, the money was used for counterinsurgency action 
against a number of rebelling factions with a stake in the drug 
trade, such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and 
the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

Originally called Plan Colombia, the spending measure was changed and 
given additional money by the Bush administration and is now called 
the Andean Regional Initiative.

"The big thing for the U.S. government has been the fumigation 
effort," Styan said. "The problem is that the chemical being sprayed 
has never been tested to be used the way it's being used in Colombia."

Planes discharge the chemical so high that it falls not only on the 
coca fields, but also people, their homes and their water supplies, 
she said.

"Children and elderly people have died," Styan said. "Livestock has 
been killed, and the number of birth defects is on the rise."

To make matters worse, the fumigation isn't even working, she said.

"The coca plants are very sturdy," Styan said. "After the fumigation, 
farmers simply cut off the tops of the plants. The coca plants stay 
alive, but the corn, banana and food crops are destroyed."

U.S. Rep. Joseph R. Pitts, a Kennett Square Republican representing 
most of Lancaster County, opposed portions of the federal spending 
measure, his aide says.

"Rep. Pitts was very concerned when President Clinton removed all of 
the human rights requirements from the aid package," Pitts' spokesman 
Gabe Neville said. "There is strong evidence the aid to Colombia may 
be used for purposes for which it was not intended."

Pitts is a member of the U.S. International Relations Committee, 
though his subcommittee assignment focuses on Middle East and South 
Asia activities.

"Congressman Pitts remains very concerned about human rights abuses 
in Colombia," Neville said. "The whole issue of human rights has been 
one of his top legislative priorities."

U.S. Rep. George W. Gekas, a Harrisburg Republican representing the 
northwestern third of Lancaster County, was strong in his opposition 
to the Colombian aid package. His spokesman, Kent Wissinger, said 
Gekas staged a "protest vote" last year against the budget plan for 
two reasons.

"Mr. Gekas believes there isn't any accountability for the anti-drug 
program," Wissinger said. "His worry is that the money is instead 
being directed to fight a Colombian civil war."

Gekas also thinks the situation could wind up becoming another 
Vietnam, Wissinger said.

"First you send money, then you send troops," Wissinger said.

On March 1, the State Department released the International Narcotics 
Control Status Report. It details all major U.S. counternarcotics 
efforts from all over the globe.

According to the report, "Colombia is the world's leading producer 
and distributor of cocaine and a significant supplier of heroin to 
the United States." U.S efforts are helping Colombia to remove drugs, 
according to the report.

Colombian National Police reported seizing more than 57 metric tons 
of cocaine, nearly 27 metric tons of cocaine base, 796 kilograms of 
heroin and more than 80 metric tons of marijuana, according to the 
report.

The report also defends its use of the herbicide used to eradicate 
illicit drug crops.

"It has been tested widely in the United States, Colombia and 
elsewhere in the world," the report says. "It is approved by the 
(Environmental Protection Agency) for use on crop land on which 
numerous crops are grown, forests, residential areas and around 
aquatic areas."

The EPA concluded there are no long-term risks to humans, but there 
are some reversible short-term risks of eye and skin irritation 
during episodes of direct contact with the chemical.

Last month, the peace process between rebels and the Colombian 
government fell apart, the report says. And although the U.S. 
government continues to support "the peace process by backing 
activities that promote a culture of nonviolence in Colombia," it 
still plans to broaden the efforts that Styan opposes.

"The aerial eradication program will expand in 2002, with the arrival 
of additional Plan Colombia-funded spray aircraft," the report says. 
"The Colombian military's counternarcotics role (also) will broaden 
in 2002, as plans to institute a second counterdrug brigade progress."

Styan, however, says the Colombian government has not met the 
human-rights provisions of its agreement with the United States.

"The Colombian Government is working with paramilitary groups (like 
FARC and AUC) which are responsible for 80 percent of the violence in 
the country," Styan said. "These groups do the Colombian military's 
dirty work. They massacre people who are speaking out against Plan 
Colombia or who are occupying land the government wants."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Josh