Self Analysis Post

Now that I take a look back at my blogs and analyze how much I have learned about Colombia I realize that when I wrote my first blog I had a limited knowledge about what was happening in the South American Country. The information that I knew about Colombia resulted from being born in Venezuela and attending school for many years in the country. We had classes that focused on Latin America and therefore I knew that Colombia was known for having one of the best coffees in the world as well as being a main producer of illicit drugs like marijuana and cocaine.
I had also heard my parents talk about the “Guerrilla Colombiana” but it wasn’t until 2002 that I realized the serious threat this armed force represented for the Colombian country. During this year the FARC guerrilla kidnapped the Colombian Presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt as well as other congressmen with the hopes of exchanging them for rebel commanders that had previously been captured.
At the time I was still very young and Venezuela had their own headache to worry about, President Hugo Chavez started approaching his goal of turning the country into a socialist… more like communist nation. So I thought that the guerrilla was simply Colombia’s Hugo Chavez.
Then I was confronted with choosing a topic to blog about during this election. I chose to talk about the U.S. foreign policies in regards to the South American country. I wanted to simply talk about foreign aid to the nation but I didn’t understand the link between aid, drugs, and armed forces. I felt like the drug problem and the armed forces were simply and internal problem like many of those that take place in third world countries. Then I started researching about Plan Colombia and many of my initials blogs dealt with how the plan was structured, its goal and what it was actually accomplishing. I focused on the damage and unbalance that the Colombian country was suffering as a result of being the center of the war on drugs. It was then that I realized that the U.S. was linked to the Farc Guerrilla. The fumigations of crops drove the country into a deeper poverty because it damaged all sorts of crops. This increased recruitment for the Guerrilla. The military equipment designated to dispense the pesticides were being used by the guerrilla as military equipment.
The country that was already in difficult conditions began to fall even deeper. People were getting sick from the pesticides and the war on drugs was unsuccessful since coca is stronger than many of the other crops and can grow in difficult soil. It just moves from one place to another without much difficulty. I thought that the poverty of the country was simply caused by lack of natural resources, but the reality is that the U.S. intervention has caused an unbalance in the country, aggravating the already unstable conditions. It was then that I started questioning the power the U.S. had to intervene in other countries without acknowledging the damage this intervention will inevitably cause. At first I thought the U.S. was concerned about Colombia and wanted the best for both nations. But after reading more in depth I realized that this was another one of the U.S. interventions that are made only for the sake of American country. They had a problem with drugs so instead of fighting it at home they figured it would make more sense to fight the war in another country. I realized that the country of Colombia finds itself in a more difficult situation each day. How are they ever going to have a sustainable legal economy when the countries natural resources are being destroyed? The formation of the armed forces and the production of drugs in the country were not caused by the U.S. but the intervention has damaged their ecosystems, strengthened the rebel group and definitely increased the production of drugs. So the “internal” problem I once believed to be simply another form of rebellion in the third world country is now a big part of the country and has linked itself to its economic system.
Reasearching this topic has made me realize that as a power nation a country should not only have priviliges, but it should also have responsibilities. The reality is that America goes on power trips and intervenes whenever the oportunity is available if they see something that will benefit them. Sadly it is safe to say that this clear violation of other countries sovereignity will continue to take place in the years to come. The U.S. has a long history of intervening in other countries affairs. They currently find it beneficial to intervene in Middle Eastern Countries as well as Latin American countries and always find "problems" they need to immediately "help" the chosen country to deal with.