Colombia's looming battle for hearts and minds
www.guardian.co.uk Friday February 7, 2003 The Guardian
George Monbiot says (Comment, February 4) "there is little doubt that the Farc has been diverted by the struggle for control of drugs money". In the 40% of the country it controls, Farc also "taxes" Colombia's other big exports, bananas, beef and flowers - we don't hear them described as "fruit fighters"or "cattle combatants".
According to the UN and others, the rightwing paramilitaries are Colombia's leading narco-traffickers. Indeed, President Uribe, when mayor of Medellin, was closely connected to drug lord Pablo Escobar. As a senator he opposed the extradition of wanted drug traffickers. The DEA has long been after his election campaign manager Pedro Villa, whose chemical company is implicated in the mass production of cocaine. Farc has repeatedly pleaded with the US to work with it on sustainable crop-substitution programmes rather than inflict "fumigation" on the country. And in the vast demilitarised zone it controlled until the collapse of the peace process last February, it worked successfully with agro-economists and farmers to this end.
The problem for Washington's hawks is that, after four decades, Farc is still led by the same disciplined central committee and still making populist political declarations from the mountains about its plans for an alternative government. The prospect of having the Farc sweep to power and make common cause with Chavez's Venezuela, Lula's Brazil, Gutierrez's Ecuador and Castro's Cuba is driving the White House and Pentagon towards the "Vietnamisation" of the entire Amazon and Andean region. Those concerned by the looming war in Iraq should know where George Bush intends to go next.
Oliver Houston Colombia Peace Association www.ColombiaPeace.org
· The drug trade and the guerrilla war that it finances have created a climate of violence in many areas of my country. Unfortunate incidents do occur. But Colombia has a freely elected government and a free press and a forceful civilian opposition in parliament.
Our electoral system requires two rounds of voting to elect the president until a majority of over 50% is achieved. Unprecedentedly, President Uribe was elected in the first round, garnering more than half the votes. The turnout of 12 million voters, despite the Farc's efforts to sabotage the elections, was an overwhelming legitimation of Colombia democratic system.
As far as the army is concerned, it is, according to a recent Gallup poll, the most respected institution in the country, with an 87% positive image. It surpasses even the church. So we have a legitimate democratic regime, a freely elected president who enjoys great popular support and an army with a high public approval rating. And those are not conjectures but verifiable facts.
Alfonso Lopez Caballero Ambassador of Colombia