They urge President Bush to use the Summit as an opportunity to begin a discussion about international support for an alternative approach. And we believe the United States has a legitimate interest in reducing the damage done by illegal drug use. But we are gravely concerned that current policy will cause more harm than good in Colombia and the region at large while having little or no effect on the drug problems of the consumer countries. The goal is to reduce cocaine production in that country by destroying its coca crops, and forcefully reclaiming land controlled by the guerillas. To make progress against our common drug problems, we have to address demand in the North and build democracy and social equality in the South.
War simply has no role to play.
The paramilitaries commit the vast majority of human rights abuses and actively engage in drug trafficking. In early 2001 the paramilitaries increased their massacres of civilians and violently took control of territory in southern Colombia ahead of fumigation operations. The escalated war effort also undermines fragile peace negotiations, which are widely recognized as the only hope for lasting peace and a reduction of the violence associated with drug trafficking. Plan Colombia has emboldened efforts to solve the 35-year internal conflict on the battlefield while undermining government and civil society leaders seeking a peaceful resolution. Poison food crops, and damage human and environmental health Last month, governors from four of Colombia s southern states came to Washington to demand a halt to the U.S. backed campaign of aerial defoliation in their region.