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COLOMBIA
>> Regional Overview >> Colombia Overview
Development Challenge FY2001 Program /
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Program Summary
Previous Years' Activities
2000Last updated: 38
Introduction
With 80 percent of the cocaine and much of the heroin consumed in the U.S. originating in Colombia, the United States has a compelling national interest in reducing the production and export of illicit drugs and promoting peace and democracy in Colombia. Progress in these areas will also help Colombia to stem the growth of crime, strengthen human rights and access to justice, and promote economic growth.
Colombia faces an urgent crisis which has narcotics, military and economic dimensions that extend well beyond its borders. For the first time in forty years, Colombia's economy in 1999 failed to produce positive growth, driving unemployment to over 20 percent. This has pushed many of the unemployed to join the narcotics economy, the guerrillas' growing insurgency or to pursue other criminal activities, which further fueled the proliferation of the drug cartels and increased hostilities with and among insurgent groups. The resulting instability continues to discourage needed foreign investment and feeds capital flight.
Through the early 1990s Colombia had a hierarchical political structure and a centralized government that allowed economic growth and limited political stability, legitimized through regular elections. Access to the system, however, was not broad enough to allow an equitable distribution of benefits, excluding large segments of the population, including ethnic communities and rural peasants. These social groups are characterized by lack of access to basic public services and by limited interaction with the civil government, which has not insured the provision of their political rights and social services. This lack of opportunities led some of these groups to engage in illegal activities, to resort to the use of force to solve conflicts, and to tolerate the rule of organized armed groups.
To address the crisis and resolve the underlying structural weaknesses, President Andres Pastrana launched Plan Colombia, a comprehensive effort that addresses four root causes of Colombia's current instability: 1) poor economic performance, 2) poor government management, 3) inequity in access to social services - especially among the country's over one million displaced - and 4) ineffectiveness of the judicial sector, particularly related to the protection of human rights.
The Development Challenge
Once viewed as a prosperous and advancing country, Colombia since 1993 has faced a deteriorating economic situation and ever-worsening narcotics and crime problems. From 1994 to 1998, the country slid toward social and economic chaos. When President Pastrana took office in August 1998, he faced political disorder, a contracting economy, an ineffective bureaucracy and an inefficient judicial system.
Colombia has a history of insurgent movements attacking government facilities and trafficking in narcotics. In recent years, however, Colombia's two major insurgent groups have significantly stepped up attacks on government and civilians and currently command up to 20,000 guerrillas. They exert a measure of control in 40 percent of the country's territory, or 400 of the country's 1,079 municipalities, where there is little presence of the civil government. Paramilitary groups compound the situation as they contest for the protection of narcotics production with the guerrillas. Today, Colombia counts approximately 1.2 million persons displaced by the armed conflict and human rights abuses.
Colombia's illicit crop production has exploded to well over 100,000 hectares of coca in 1999, up from 40,000 hectares in 1996. Increased area planted is compounded by rising crop yields. Poppy production covers almost 7,000 hectares, producing 7,000 kilograms of heroin each year. This explosion of cocaine and heroin production has been made possible by the protection of crops and airstrips by the guerrillas and paramilitaries, adding a new dimension to the armed conflict. In many areas, the guerrillas and the paramilitaries are actively engaging in narcotics trafficking. In the face of this expanding and conflictive situation, the USG will assist Colombia's integrated counter-narcotics program, including law enforcement, interdiction, and eradication efforts.
Colombia's human rights situation is in crisis, and despite some improvement, human rights remains an area of serious concern. Human rights workers continue to be at significant risk and are unable to mount sustainable programs to monitor the human rights situation, report on human rights violations, and educate the population about their rights. Prosecutors and Ombudsman staff lack basic transportation and forensic equipment needed to investigate cases and develop evidence in a timely manner.
With enactment of the 1991 Constitution, Colombia decentralized the distribution of its public sector budget. Weaknesses in departmental and municipal governments have impeded their ability to provide needed services. The problem is exacerbated by growing poverty, where sixty percent of Colombian families live in poverty or extreme poverty and are increasingly in need of government services. Local governments and NGOs are unable to deal with the problems posed by people displaced internally by the conflict, estimated at over one million, nor can they gain access to national programs and local revenues that would permit the delivery of services and infrastructure.
The Colombian judicial system is slow and cumbersome; many crimes are not reported to authorities due to a popular perception that reported crimes will not be prosecuted. Over half of the reported human rights violations are a result of a lack of due process of law. However, the Pastrana administration is committed to reverse this trend. It has started to institute an accusatory system highlighting the use of oral public trials. This is complemented with the implementation of multi-agency judicial centers, the "Casas de Justicia" or Justice Houses, designed to facilitate access to the justice system to Colombians living in marginal areas. This commitment, absent during the previous Colombian administration, underlies the movement towards a more efficient, transparent and fair judicial system.
Other Donors
The Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, the Andean Development Corporation and the Latin American Reserve Fund committed $4.2 billion over 2000-2002 to strengthen the Colombian social safety net. The World Bank also contributed $540 million and the IDB $371 million to a fast-disbursing loan to support Plan Colombia. Annually, United Nations agencies provide approximately $15 million, while combined donors, led by the European Union, Japan and Germany, provide approximately $65 million.
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Last Updated on: January 18, 2001 |
