The guerrillas do receive a substantial amount of their funding from taxes imposed on poppy and coca grown by peasants in guerrilla- controlled territory. And paramilitary groups are commonly known to be linked informally to the Colombian military at local and regional levels. Hence, sending money to the Colombian military in an effort to reduce drug production seems counterproductive at best and, at worst, a weak cover for greater U.S. involvement in the war. The chemicals harm the environment and can reach fields of legitimate crops. But the greatest concern is that U.S. efforts may actually increase human rights violations.
Paramilitary groups commit the majority of human rights abuses against civilians.
While the military has removed several top generals who were linked with the paramilitaries, such improvements remain largely cosmetic. Close collaboration still occurs between the military and paramilitary groups. Increased funding for the military would almost certainly escalate the war in Colombia and mean more civilian displacement, disappearances, and intimidation. But the debate in Congress over Colombia needs to move beyond simply fighting the drug war. Much more aid needs to be directed toward ways to reconstruct the fabric of Colombian civil society.