On my previous post I talked about how Plan Colombia was a failure that resulted in funding a terrorist group. Some seemed a little confused so hopefully I can clarify how this plan has failed and its relation to the FARC guerrilla. The main ideal behind Plan Colombia is drug crop spraying. Using planes they spread these deadly pesticides over marihuana and coca crops. Nothing wrong with that? well in reality they also spray the campesinos food crops, the same crops that U.S. encouraged them to farm instead of Coca. Shown in the video below, they spread these pesticides all over the place, falling directly on people and into their water resources. So not only do we ask them to grow food crops even though they don’t have the ability to produce a steady income from it, but we pollute their country. We continue to kill their farms over and over again, as well as their animals that inevitably drink the polluted waters. Now would we deal with having planes spraying pesticides over our farms and homes just to help put an end to the drug war…..? I don’t think so!
What does Plan Colombia really accomplishing? How is it related to the FARC Guerrilla? Plan Colombia causes conflict between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrilla both of which have been connected to controlling the drug trade in Colombia. The FARC Guerrilla gets some of their funds from taxing drug producers, so logically they are not very happy with the U.S. intervention. Plan Colombia provides planes and equipment to spread pesticides; however this equipment is also used by the FARC Guerrilla making their technology more powerful and aiding them in going against U.S. intervention. Regardless of how much the U.S. claims this war is a success in reality it is a complete failure. The only thing it accomplishes is frustration among the poor people of Colombia. They find themselves starving because their crops have been exterminated and as a result go back to growing drug crops or join the FARC Guerrilla. We are simply making people want to join terrorist groups, so that they can help end an inefficient war on drugs that is killing more Colombian civilians that anything else.
Plan Colombia
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3 comments:
Stefany,
Your post is extremely interesting. I can't even imagine how damaging it would be if our crops in the US were sprayed with pesticides. My main question is who controls the Plan Columbia? Is America just giving monetary funding or is our government actually sending their planes to destroy Columbia's crops? I don't understand why Plan Columbia would spray crops of innocent citizens. Just spraying the drugs causes major environmental pollutants that spread (detailed by Silent Spring) to other regions.
Your blog topic is very "refreshing" I enjoy learning about something new/not in the media often, but still relevant .
St3Vzla,
Plan Colombia appears to be a dismal failure, with absolutely no regard for strategic placement of these sprayings of pesticides. Also, if America is encouraging Colombia to grow crops that are destroyed by Plan Colombia, then America is contradicting itself with its actions. However, if all crops are being destroyed, how can anyone hope to grow drug crops? Additionally, if the FARC Guerrilla is using the same technology used for Plan Colombia, then Plan Colombia's failure is even more obvious. How did that technology get distributed to the FARC Guerrilla? Could the United States repair all this damage?
Tommy
Stefany,
It is very depressing to see that the plan that was set up is failing. Was the plan to eliminate all drugs in one strike or was it supposed to be a gradual process? If it was a gradual process then wouldn't it still being going on. Maybe we just haven't given it enough time yet. Is there a more effective way of killing off the marihuana and coca plants that wouldn't kill off the countries other plants and fruits and livestock?
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