Making a plan for development
THE PLAN COLOMBIA OF PRESIDENT PASTRANA AIMS TO RESOLVE CONFLICTS WITH REBEL GROUPS, FIGHT ILLEGAL DRUG TRAFFICKING, AND MODERNIZE THE NATION'S LEGAL AND MILITARY INSTITUTIONS

In late August, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman headed a fact-finding mission to Colombia comprised of some 20 other senior U.S. diplomats, military policymakers and law enforcement officials. Their task was to review anti-drug cooperation policies, with talks focusing on the progress of the multi-billion-
dollar Plan Colombia to eradicate the illegal drugs trade to ensure political stability in the South American nation.
After meeting with President Andres Pastrana, Mr. Grossman stressed Colombia’s importance to the United States and concluded that, “we are backing all efforts that support Plan Colombia and nothing is going to change.”
President Pastrana announced his Plan Colombia in early 2000. Some US$7.5 billion has been earmarked for the three-year plan, with Colombia committing US$4 billion, the United States US$1.3 billion and the rest coming from the international community.

ANNE W. PATTERSON U.S. Ambassador to Colombia

Plan Colombia is based on the clear fact that the country cannot reach its potential or resolve social and economic problems without progress towards ending its nearly four-decades old rebel insurgency, which in turn depends on cutting the link between the illegal drugs trade and guerrilla and paramilitary groups.
In the last 18 months, Colombian police acting in conjunction with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency have eradicated some 112,500 acres of illicit drug crops that would have netted traffickers some US$30 billion.
“The idea is to get all that money out of the hands of the guerrillas,” says Anne W. Patterson, the U.S. Ambassador to Colombia. “But there are a lot of other things in Plan Colombia. There’s US$87 million in law enforcement programs, another US$26 million in human rights-related programs, some US$115 million for administration and justice programs and US$20 million for displaced persons. These programs are being carried out all over the country.”

LUIS C. VILLEGAS President of ANDI (National Association of Industrialists)

Despite initial concerns about the depth of U.S. involvement in Colombia’s internal affairs, Plan Colombia has since won over its strongest critics, including Venezuela and neighboring nations that feared Colombia’s problems would spill over across their borders. Strong support for Plan Colombia has also come from the country’s private sector, especially the National Association of Industrialists (ANDI). Luis C. Villegas, the association’s president, was asked recently what he thought the consequences of the plan would be for Colombian industrialists.

“That’s not how we should look at the issue,” he said. “The question should be, ‘what would be the consequences without Plan Colombia?’ After 13 long years we have finally convinced the international community that the drugs problem isn’t only a Colombian issue, but one that is global in scope.”
Finance Minister Juan Manuel Santos, who was in Washington in September to attend the annual Andean Development Corporation conference, adds that it is important that the U.S. Congress this year renews and expands the decade-old Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA), which Mr Santos calls “a critical economic component in the war on drugs”. “By providing duty-free access to the U.S. market for certain Andean products, the ATPA has generated a total of US$1.2 billion in new output and the US$1.7 billion in new exports since its inception in Andean countries,” Mr. Santos notes. “Just as important, it has created approximately 140,000 new legitimate jobs in the region, economic deterrents for illegal crop production and drug trafficking. Renewal of the ATPA is critical to jump-starting the legal economies of all Andean countries.