and plan colombia was conceived allegedly for the us to finance humanitarian projects and the fight against drug trafficking instead of financing development projects billions of dollars were given roosevelt declared that the united states had the right to intervene in the internal affairs of latin america in his own words this meant that if any south american country misbehaves it should be spanked all u s presidents that succeeded in lesser or greater measure continue to exercise their perceived right over reaching often known as america's backyard militant communist groups and rural colombia made the us fear that a cuban style revolution might take place top brass u s general william yarborough and a team of experts were sent to colombia to assess the country's internal security situation in a secret report to the pentagon general yarbrough encouraged the creation of a paramilitary force a concerted country team effort should be made now to select civilian and military personnel for clandestine training to execute paramilitary sabotage and terrorist activities political with the aim of counteracting the activities of the guerilla sectors of the colombian military joined forces with the lead landowners drug traffickers and us oil corporations operating in colombia together they created right wing paramilitary groups these countered with ample support from the political establishment and the armed forces so i  the paramilitaries regularly apply the principle of draining the swamp terror tactics were employed in order to make the peasants refrain from supporting the guerilla rural villages were special forces infamous paramilitary leader roderigo doubly safe is an excellent i have the school of the americas and colonel lino sanchez had finished a training course by the us army special forces stationed in colombia only days before helping the paramilitaries torture and murder forty nine presidents the paramilitary armies demobilized in two thousand and five however their legacy is demobilized are now running the main criminal organizations in colombia the terror tactics from the past are still a trademark of their criminal activities these days the fight between the radical left and the ultra right wing has been mostly replaced by a complicated network of odd alliances paramilitary criminals and the guerrillas sometimes work side by side in the drug trafficking business at the other end of the conflict is the colombian state trapped in the middle of the fight of the impoverished peasants many of whom have the cultivation of the coca leaves as their only means of subsistence here i meant to put an epitaph undoubtedly the huge military effort in place since the year two selves and has been fundamental in weakening the different illegal armed groups and bringing relative peace to some parts of i'm very great during the clinton administration the colombian and u s government had discussed plan colombia as an increase in u s aid counter narcotics projects sustainable economic development the protection of human rights humanitarian aid stimulating private investment and promoting colombia's economic growth by the time the agreement was ready to be implemented george w bush was already in office instead of focusing on developing projects plan colombia became a military itself a major producer of coca and cocaine paste of poses such efforts the eradication process has hit both the gorillas and the impoverished peasantry while the latter can only sit and watch while their means of subsistence the guerrillas makeshift mines are responsible for such a high number of casualties that in many years in the military recently opened a medical facility exclusively for back at the twenty fifth mobile divisions headquarters the helicopter crews are reading for mission into the eradication area where they have to resupply the troops on the ground they're going to you know daily basis colonel martinez makes no secret of the uneasy feels do to heighten security protocols we were not allowed to go on board of the helicopter and although the farce main source of funding are it's coca fields and drug laboratories many other coca crops that the army is wiping out only provide for the meager subsistence of the peasantry the peasants or were not productive enough to allow for a basic subsistence farming community were so right to lose counts on coca as its main source of income because of this many eradication with the negotiations for a peace agreement slowly but surely moving forward the future of this troubled country looks hopeful at the same time the long term marriage between colombia's ruling classes and the united states seems