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Understanding U.S. Military Policy in Colombia; a talk by Meridith Kruse |
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by Nancy D-R
Email: nancydietrich (nospam) juno.com (unverified!) |
01 Apr 2001
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Meridith Kruse, a sociology instructor at Illinois State University, spoke Sunday, April 1st at the Channing-Murray Foundation about her recent trip to Colombia. She travelled to Colombia with a delegation sponsored by Witness for Peace, a politically independent grassroots organization that works for peace, justice, and sustainable economies in Latin America and the Caribbean. |
Meridith Kruse, a sociology instructor at Illinois State University, spoke Sunday, April 1st at the Channing-Murray Foundation about her recent trip to Colombia. She travelled to Colombia with a delegation sponsored by Witness for Peace, a politically independent grassroots organization that works for peace, justice, and sustainable economies in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Ms. Kruse started her discussion by noting that Witness for Peace was started in the 1980’s to look at the effects of U.S. policy in Latin American countries, particularly Nicaragua. This particular trip was to look at what the effects of U.S. policy have been on the Colombian people.
According to Ms. Kruse, the United States has given $1.3 billion in foreign aid to Colombia, 70% of which goes either to the military or towards arial fumigation of coca crops. She stated that the herbicide which is sprayed on these crops is what has been termed "Round-Up Ultra" and has not been tested for safety. Arial fumigation results in many other crops besides coca being destroyed, which hurts an already suffering economy in Colombia. Animals in the vicinity of the spraying become sick and/or die, and people in contact with this herbicide have been chemically burned, as well as gotten sick. It not only affects the crops, but also the soil and water supply. Kruse noted that millions of Columbians have been displaced from their homelands by these fumigations, which are funded by the United States government, supposedly to fight the "war on drugs."
But Colombian citizens have a different perspective, Ms. Kruse stated. The areas which are fumigated by the government also have various natural resources which would be valuable to the United States. Citizens who have been displaced feel that it is for this reason, and not the "war on drugs," that they are being systematically displaced. If there are no people in these areas, anyone with the capabilities could move in and extract those resources with little resistance.
Colombian citizens feel that the issue of their economic and political exclusion from the rest of the world needs to be addressed. FIFTY PERCENT of the Colombian population live in abject poverty, an issue which is not addressed by the U.S. war on drugs. Ms. Kruse also stated that one study conducted by the conservative U.S. think-tank, RAND, found that setting up drug treatment centers in the U.S. would be about 23 times more effective than trying to eradicate coca crops in Latin America.
One has to call into question, when faced with the facts, whether the U.S. is really fighting a "war on drugs," as it claims, or whether there are more factors involved, like U.S. corporations wanting to go in and exploit the natural resources in Colombia. One thing is sure, the media here in the U.S. is not covering all sides of the story on this (and many other) stories in which U.S. foreign policy is involved.
For more information on how to get involved locally with support of Colombia, the Columbia Support Network meets the first Wednesday of each month from 5:30-6:30 pm, in the Channing-Murray Foundation fireplace room, 1209 W. Oregon St., Urbana. Visitors and new members are always welcome.
Witness for Peace has a website with information about the Colombian delegation, as well as information on other Latin American countries. Their address: www.witnessforpeace.org |
See also:
www.witnessforpeace.org
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