Follow the Money : In whose interests is war being fought in Colombia?

Imagine a war waged by well-organized terrorist networks, heavily armed and funded by wealthy extremists. The armies recruit young idealists who, having grown up not knowing a world without violence, are willing to sacrifice their lives to bring peace and justice for their people. The battlefield is often urban centers and the vast majority of casualties—more than 20 each day--are civilians. Millions more are forced to flee their communities and live under the repression and fear caused by such extreme violence.

Despite this grim reality, rarely does the world´s attention focus on Colombia, the country where this conflict has raged for over 40 years. Seldom does the daily violence make headlines in the US even though US citizens are financing all sides of this war through military aid and participation in blackmarket as well as legitimate economies. NGO´s and advocacy groups frequently call for the cessation of US military aid to the government of Colombia on the assumption that funding and equipping one side of the conflict fuels the violence and reduces the chances of a negotiated peace. Undoubtably, without the $2.5 billion given by the US to Colombia in the last decade the violence would not have escalated as rapidly. Yet in order to successfully lobby for the decreased militarization of US policy toward Colombia, US taxpayers who are footing the bill need to understand who benefits from the continued violence and a militarized solution to the conflict.

Since the passage of Plan Colombia, the 1999 aid package that drastically stepped-up US involvement in Colombia under the guise of fighting the drug war, the most frequent criticism has been that very little of the money has actually left the US. Over 70% of the allocation pays for equipment and training, including hundreds of millions for helicopters alone. Without exception all of the weapons manufacturers are US defense contractors all of which lobbied heavily for increased military aid in Plan Colombia. Furthermore, the funds allocated for the training of the Colombian armed forces pay the salaries of active US soldiers as well as retired soldiers now working for one of the numerous private security companies operating—with very little transparency and congressional oversight--in Colombia.

Much ado has been made about the 2003 Foreign Appropriations Bill which included a $98 million provision to protect an oil pipeline primarily owned—with a 44% share—by Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum. The money funds the training and equipping of the 18^th Brigade, a unit of the Colombian Army whose sole responsibility will be to protect the Cano-Limon pipeline from guerrilla attacks. The two major leftist guerrilla groups involved in the Colombian civil war, the FARC and ELN, target the pipeline as a way to strike at the heart of Colombia´s economy. According to the guerrilla logic, by attacking the infrastructure that enables foreign corporations to profit off oil extraction, they protect Colombia´s resources from exploitation and convince the government and company that they are a force to be reckoned with. 

The Colombia government used to charge a “war tax” to foreign oil companies operating in Colombia of $1.23 per barrel that funded the Colombian forces protection of  foreign investments.  Although this tax was removed Occidental and other countries have continued to support the Colombian armed forces who have in turn been linked to paramilitary forces operating in the Aruca province where the pipeline is located. The US Embassy in Colombia openly admits that Occidental supplies the gas used by  helicopters purchased using Plan Colombia funds that transport the 18^th Brigade and the US troops that are training them.  It is no surprise then that Occidental lobbied heavily for increased US funding for militarization of Aruca. As a recent Witness for Peace report points out, US taxpayers are being asked to foot the security costs of Occidental’s continued operations in Colombia estimated to be $3.70 per barrel produced.

Protection of the Cano-Limon pipeline has also served as a major source of income for  the guerrilla groups as well. Witness for Peace alleges that Occidental has paid millions of dollars in bribes to the FARC and ELN in exchange for letting the company continue to extract and transport Colombian crude.  Along with revenue from local drug production and kidnapping, the guerrillas fund their involvement in the civil war these extortion payments. By funneling money to both sides of the conflict Occidental has helped fuel the flames of a war which they are now turning to US taxpayers to resolve by the use of greater force.

Critcs of Plan Colombia have pointed out from the beginning that US business interests lay at the heart of US military involvement in Colombia. Ostensibly passed by Congress as part of the drug war, Plan Colombia and its successors, such as the Andean Regional Initiative, are less about reducing the world’s drug supply and more about stabilization of Colombia for foreign investment. In an interview conducted in July 2000, exiled Colombian journalist Alfredo Molano warned, “It was a plan made to fit the vested interests in Washington, the foreign businesses, the military contractors that also influence the Colombian government. And naturally the Washington interests to create more favorable conditions for North American investments, to create the basis for an offensive against drug trafficking and the guerrilla movement.”

As violence in the Middle East and political unrest in Venezuela continues to threaten US access to large oil reserves, the US government increasingly looks to non-OPEC oil producing countries such as Colombia. With geographic conditions similar to its neighbor Venezuela and vast amounts of unexplored territory, many suspect that Colombia could potentially become a major supplier of oil to North America. Yet without stability exploration and investment is impossible.

Oil is not the only thing motivating foreign interest in Colombia. As negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and Plan Puebla Panama (PPP) intensify, Colombia finds itself strategically located from both a geographic and political perspective. The northwest corner of Colombia  has for decades been the site of significant guerilla and paramilitary activity.  The Darien region along the border of Panama is well-known to be one of the most violent corners—interesting when one considers its potential as a transportation corridor linking South and Central America as well as the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. This is the only region through which the Pan-American Highway--stretching from Alaska to Patagonia along the west coast of two continents--is unfinished. Similarly, as the Panama Canal becomes increasingly obsolete, a new passage called the Atrato-Trando canal which would pass along the Atrato river has been proposed.  Neither of these major projects can be realized if the area remains unpacified. Some have speculated that the increased paramilitary and military presence in this area that has led to massive displacement of the civilian population in what was formerly guerrilla territory is caused by an interest in developing these projects.