http://www.drugpolicy.org/lindesmith/news/DailyNews/03_13_01Colombia2.html Plan Colombia Criticism Leads to Increased Spending on Andean Initiative Wednesday, March 13, 2001 In response to criticism that Plan Colombia will create a spillover effect and spread coca production and instability throughout the region, the Bush administration announced on Monday that it plans to expand Plan Colombia to include neighboring countries. According to William Brownfield, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for western hemisphere affairs “You cannot deal with Colombia in isolation... We need a more regional approach to address the issues, the crises that are emanating from Colombia today.” President George W. Bush will introduce a budget to Congress next month that provides for increased spending for Colombia's neighbors. President Bush recently admitted that American demand for illegal drugs fuels production and trafficking. Nonetheless, George Wachtenheim, Director of the US Agency for International Development Mission in Colombia, claims the new program, titled the Andean Initiative, will be a social program to address the root causes of drug cultivation. The Andean Initiative will include Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela and Panama and comes on the heels of scathing European Union criticism of the mostly military aid that makes up Plan Colombia, along with protests from Southern Colombian governors on the environmental impact of fumigation. A group of European countries is seeking to monitor Plan Colombia's program of aerial crop fumigation in order to gauge its overall effectiveness and environmental impact. In related news, past attempts at promoting alternative crops have had limited success at best. The fumigation strategy currently being used in Colombia makes a phasing-in of alternative crop development problematic. Plan Colombia is exacerbating an already chronic refugee problem by fumigating staple food crops along with coca. With coca crops being destroyed in Colombia, the price of coca is expected to rise along with production in neighboring countries. Instability in Peru and Bolivia make the two Andean countries likely candidates for increased production. The indigenous populations of the Andean region have grown and used coca for millennia. However, coca was not grown for export until the relatively recent advent of cocaine use in industrialized countries. As part of a U.S. funded plan, farmers have been paid $2,500 for each acre of hectare of Bolivian coca destroyed. However, rising hardship in Bolivia is causing many farmers to return to coca growing. The profits from the alternative crops introduced are significantly lower than those obtained from growing coca. Coca buyers not only pay more, but they also buy crops at their source. Limited infrastructure makes transport of alternative crops to receptive markets difficult. Last Fall the coca growers union blockaded roads and forced the government to airlifted supplies to the capital. Intensified conflict is expected if troops try to eradicate the remaining coca. Should the Andean Initiative attempt to pay farmers throughout the Andean region not to grow coca, it may have to be broadened to include Africa as well. There have been reports of coca cultivation on Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya, destined for European consumption. Additionally, the increased emphasis on coca eradication has shifted resources away from opium poppy eradication and allowed production to flourish in Colombia. Opium is the raw material used to make heroin. According to the most recent Monitoring the Future survey, heroin use among high school seniors has reached record levels. --
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