The United States must help Colombia help itself

By JACK RUBIN

First, the aid package is a necessary reassertion of the American commitment to stem the flow of narcotics to the U.S. American credibility in the Western Hemisphere in the post-Cold War era is largely bound up in its guarantees to assist the anti-drug efforts of Latin American nations. Domestically, the seemingly untouchable drug rings are an embarrassment for law enforcement officials and politicians. Yet law enforcement efforts should not be directed toward domestic drug traffickers alone. Colombian-grown coca and opium account for 90 percent of the cocaine and 65 percent of the heroin found in the U.S. America's commitment to curtailing the drug trade requires a commitment to the anti-drug government in Bogotá. The last couple of months show that Colombia's anti-narcotics forces should have similar success in the future with the aid of U.S. funding and training.

Second, the aid package is critical at this juncture for the preservation of Columbia's democratic government, which dates back to 1810. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) poses a direct threat to the survival of Colombia's status as a democracy. This guerrilla group rakes in $1 to $2 million daily, financed entirely by the drug trade that it facilitates and defends. The guerillas themselves have spoken publicly of their desire to lay down their weapons in exchange for certain social reforms and guarantees for their future safety. With the human rights record of the Colombian military, basic assurances for the security of rebel group members is an essential element in the struggle for a lasting peace. The U.S. must play an integral part in the negotiations, as it has in the conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere. Eliminating the narcotics trade in Colombia will eliminate the funding for the guerrillas, as American assistance drives a wedge between the coca producers and the rebel groups, making real the possibility for a negotiated peace.

The civil war raging in Colombia has grown to the point that the U.S. can no longer afford to rely strictly on covert intervention to support the Colombian government. American policymakers must have the public support of Congress when brokering settlements between the government and the guerrillas. The proposed aid package displays to Colombia, the leftist anti-government rebels, the far-right paramilitaries, and the world a very necessary commitment to American policy objectives in South America. In the absence of international aid, Colombia's drug production would continue to rise while its economic and political stability would most certainly fail.

Third, the aid package will serve to bolster the economic prosperity of the entire Western Hemisphere. Colombia has the third largest economy in Latin America, but internal political strife has caused it to end fiscal years 1998 and 1999 in recession. The country is replete with natural resources, including vast, mostly untapped oil fields. The assistance in the aid package will provide incentives for Colombia's agricultural sector to diversify beyond coca and a political climate in which foreign investment and expansion of the manufacturing and petroleum sectors will foster sustainable economic growth. Colombian landowners are reluctant to farm their lands, for fear that war or drugs will engulf their investments. Moreover, without a reversal in momentum of foreign investment in the country, Colombia, America's seventh-largest petroleum supplier, risks becoming a net importer of oil by the end of the decade.

A concerted effort toward political stability in the country will also foster further discussion and substantive efforts toward meeting the year 2005 goal for establishing a formal free trade area within the Americas. In the context of increasingly interdependent economies worldwide and the nascent economic rivalry of the U.S. and the European Union, particularly for trading partners in Latin America, a healthy Colombian economy would present enormous benefits for the other economies of North and South America.

Indeed, "anti-drug" is a misnomer in the case of the Colombian aid package. The appropriations bill is really about the political and economic stability of the western hemisphere. This all-too-easily-politicized issue is key to vital American interests on many levels. Western hemispheric economic development and security concerns pose two of the most important considerations for American policymakers at the turn of the century. In Colombia, money, drugs, and the battle for democracy converge to necessitate a decisive American commitment. Jack Rubin is a junior in Berkeley.

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