Leahy Drives Shift from Militarization to Development
The U.S. Senate has taken a new stand on the drug war in Colombia, approving a reduced and refocused successor to last year's Plan Colombia that emphasizes economic and social programs over guns and helicopters.
Sixteen months after overwhelmingly endorsing the more militarized approach in Colombia, the upper chamber reversed itself and voted to assure funds for other countries in the region and to put the Agency for International Development in charge of administering more than one third of all the money in the package.
The change, if preserved in a House-Senate conference committee and signed by the President, could effectively gut the military centerpiece of the plan approved last year after months of debate and consultations between U.S. and Colombian officials.
The Bush Administration introduced the new plan, known as the Andean Initiative, earlier this year. It was generally seen as the continuation of President Clinton's first phase of support for Plan Colombia, which cost $1.3 billion. The Andean Initiative had a price tag of $731 million for anti drug programs, including $399 million for Colombia.
The House approved the package earlier this year reducing it $56 million without earmarks. Last week, the Senate cut a total of $184 million from the request and earmarked funds for USAID as well as some Andean countries. Colombia's share will come from what's left.
The change in the Senate's stance was emblematic of the fact that in this critical area of foreign aid, Washington today is a very different place than it was a year ago--and not just because of what happened September 11.
In 2000, the Clinton administration was wrapping up eight years in office, while today the Bush administration still does not have all of its key players for Latin American policy confirmed.
In 2000, the Colombian embassy in Washington put most of its efforts into securing U.S. support for Plan Colombia. This time around, that government spent more energy on trade issues, assuming that military and police aid could not dwindle under a Republican White House. In 2000, there was also a national election, and being "tough on drugs" usually plays well at the ballot box.
Ironically, in those elections, Republicans won the White House but lost ground and eventually control of the Senate, dealing now a major blow to supporters of the original Plan Colombia approach. The new chairman of the key foreign operations subcommittee in the Senate Appropriations Committee became Sen. Patrick J Leahy (D-Vt.), a self-described "skeptic" on the effectiveness of fighting drugs through police and military actions and leading advocate of human rights in Congress.
Leahy told colleagues during the floor debate last week that he didn't think such an approach would have any "appreciable impact on the amount of illegal drugs coming into the United States." With the United States already providing more assistance for anti drug programs in the Andes than to combat AIDS and other infectious diseases, provide disaster relief or promote basic education worldwide, he argued it was time to change priorities.
Most of the senators who took the floor did not disagree with Leahy, including Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Leahy's predecessor as subcommittee chairman who had supported the Plan Colombia approach last year. McConnell will be the leading Republican negotiator from the Senate when both chambers meet next week to iron out differences.
Oddly enough, there have been some in Washington and Colombia who predicted support for the South American country would increase in the aftermath of September 11, and Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fl.), tried that tack.
Calling Colombia "the global testing ground for our commitment against terrorism," Graham warned of a loss of U.S. credibility if the Leahy view prevailed. But Graham's call for full funding of the White House request was squashed in a procedural vote, 72-27. "Hardly more than a year into this battle we are beginning to sound the trumpet of retreat and run up the white flag of surrender," he complained, to no avail.
Adam Isacson of the Center for International Policy, who has followed Plan Colombia since its inception and been a strong supporter of non-military aid, was heartened by news of the Senate's action. If it wins final approval, he said, it would be "an enormous change in direction and a real slap on what the [Bush] administration had planned to do."