cannabisnews.com: US-Backed Program To Replace Colombia's Drug Crops





US-Backed Program To Replace Colombia's Drug Crops
Posted by FoM on December 04, 2000 at 22:46:33 PT
By Jared Kotler, Associated Press Writer
Source: S.F. Gate
Yanking a coca bush from the ground and planting a magnolia tree in its place, officials kicked off an ambitious program to eradicate drug crops in the heart of Colombia's cocaine-producing region. During the weekend ceremony in southern Colombia's Putumayo province -- home of nearly half the world's cocaine-yielding acreage -- about 700 peasant farmers agreed to destroy their coca plots in return for government aid to adopt alternative, and legal, livelihoods. 
The crop-substitution program is the ``soft side'' of a U.S.-backed military push into the region, in which remaining coca fields will be seized by government troops and destroyed by aerial fumigation. The pact was signed Saturday in the village of Santa Ana and will be offered to other farmers in Putumayo in the coming months. For the coca growers, the deal to wipe out their own crops -- and thereby avoid aerial fumigation -- sounds good on paper. But many are skeptical the promises will become reality. And there is little likelihood the initiative will sharply reduce the scale of the upcoming military offensive. In return for seeds, technical assistance, better roads and electricity -- the government's part of the bargain -- communities living off coca pledge to instead be growing food crops and tending chicken coops within a year. Later, officials say, they will invite farmers into more lucrative long-term projects such as cattle-raising, fish farms and rubber plantations. The government says the alternative development program is backed by nearly $250 million in government aid, in addition to tens of millions of dollars in expected international funding. But these so-called programs face a myriad of obstacles. Foremost is security. Colombia's largest leftist guerrilla army, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, controls much of rural Putumayo, and earns huge profits by protecting the cocaine-producing plantations and ``taxing'' the growers. Battling more than 2,000 FARC fighters for control of Putumayo and profits from its lucrative cocaine trade are at least 600 members of a right-wing paramilitary group, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC. The FARC says it supports alternative development over forced aerial eradication, but it remains to be seen whether the guerrillas will go along with plans aimed at eliminating one of their main sources of income. A $1.3 billion U.S. aid package includes dozens of combat helicopters and U.S. special forces training for 3,000 Colombian army troops given the task of driving the armed groups from the coca fields. The United States also is pledging more than $100 million for alternative development programs, however White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey said last week that such programs cannot succeed until Colombia's police and military ``have established security on the ground.'' Even if that can be done, other obstacles loom. Some critics expect to see a ``balloon effect'' in which thousands of coca farmers shun alternative development offers and simply relocate further into the Amazon, destroying more virgin jungle without reducing the amount of coca. The government had never attempted a large-scale development program in Putumayo. Previous projects have been small and ineffective, sowing distrust among peasants who eradicated their coca only to find that government aid promises were hollow. Gonzalo de Francisco, the government's coordinator for Putumayo, promises that this time, things will be different. ``We're going in and not to do little projects,'' he said. ``This time we're going in big, and we are going to follow through.'' Source: Associated PressAuthor: Jared Kotler, Associated Press WriterPublished: Monday, December 4, 2000 Copyright: 2000 Associated Press CannabisNews Articles - Colombiahttp://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=colombia
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Comment #8 posted by freedom fighter on December 06, 2000 at 16:30:27 PT
kapt.
I think Rothschild is one who invent that banker game. 
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Comment #7 posted by dddd on December 05, 2000 at 06:23:34 PT
copters
 Yup,it's true Dave.90 percent of this whole scam was just created to fill corporate pockets,the other ten percent is being used for media spin,and censorship control slushfunds. One can only imagine the extent of the czars involvement in maintaining the news mask on this debacle. Some day,history will record this as one of the biggest,most scandalous farces ever.....dddd
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Comment #6 posted by Dave in Florida on December 05, 2000 at 05:44:28 PT
This time we're going in big....
DDDD said >It seems to me,that if they took,,let's say half of the 1.7 billion of our tax money,and just paid all these poor farmers with cash,...I was thinking the same thing 4D. But you have to remember that those nice people that make helicopters here in the good old usa would not get there cut.. 
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on December 05, 2000 at 05:44:15 PT:
Kaptinemo Your're Back!
Hi There Kapt!I've been worried about you since you haven't been here for a while. It sure is good to see you back. You made my day! Even my husband said is Kaptin back yet and now I can tell him yes.Peace, FoM!
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Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on December 05, 2000 at 05:22:34 PT:
Ah, but that's the idea, Doc.
It's an old game: the bankers back both sides in a war. That way, they simply can't lose.Consider; the campesinos are literally in a worse situation than being 'between a rock and a hard place'. With them, its either the rebels or the corporations and their governmental cat's-paws. Neither side suffers from any compunctions about killing ideologically neutral peasants. So the warfare gets ever more internecine, the peasants do finally revolt, US corporate oil interests get threatened by the instability...and Bogota gets the excuse it needs for screaming for all-out US involvement. And the Big Oil Lobby, the "Old Money" Families which are the de facto oligarchy in the US, will push for just that, as they did during the Gulf War. And their bosom buddies, the bankers, will make out like the bandits they are. Like they always do. Very handy.And the worst part about all of this is that the complacent American public, having been told it is all for 'the greater good', will sacrifice some of the very DARE-indoctrinated children they worked so hard to 'save' from illicit drugs on the altar of the DrugWarriors. All to stop some fool from snorting coke or shooting heroin. Talk about being bass-ackwards.
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Comment #3 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on December 05, 2000 at 03:31:38 PT:
Hopeless Schemes
"lucrative long-term projects such as cattle-raising, fish farms and rubber plantations."Much of the Brazilian Amazon is now desert thanks to this kind of thinking. These schemes have been attempted for 150 years and simply do not work. Starving peasants anxious for revolution are the result. 
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Comment #2 posted by dddd on December 05, 2000 at 03:23:42 PT
another thought
 It seems to me,that if they took,,let's say half of the 1.7 billion of our tax money,and just paid all these poor farmers with cash,,they would all have enough to retire in Belize,or Cancun,Madrid,or Nova Scotia.After they were all paid off and cleared out,the big oil and mining companies could then safely rape the resources,without hassling with angry natives.
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Comment #1 posted by dddd on December 05, 2000 at 03:09:27 PT
Yea,,,Sure
 What a freekin' tragic bunch-O-CRAP! A)O.K.,,,let's see,,now well give Hose' carrot and celery seeds,so he can break into the lucrative carrot and celery market...Manuel can grow turnips,and Felipe will be supplied with a bunch of brocolli,and brussel sprout seeds....Now that they have all the seeds they need,the problem is solved.B)"In return for seeds, technical assistance, better roads and electricity -- the government's part of the bargain -- communitiesliving off coca pledge to instead be growing food crops and tending chicken coops within a year. Later, officials say, they willinvite farmers into more lucrative long-term projects such as cattle-raising, fish farms and rubber plantations"........ Yes,the whole world will be anxious to buy the chicken,beef,and vegetables from areas that have been flooded with Roundup,and other bio-toxins that dont even have names.The fish should be really special and good.C)How wonderful and benevolent that they were actually able to spare $250 million for the cause.Lets do the math,and see if we can figure what percent that is of 1.7 or so BILLION.Perhaps the following will help. It takes some perspective to think in billions. Keep the following in mind:one thousand seconds is about17 minutes. One million seconds is about eleven and a half days. One billion seconds is about 32 years. Sorry to sound so bitter and negative,but this whole thing seems to get more ridiculous and scandalous each day.......dddd 
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