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Biden Will Continue Plan Colombia, President Duque affirms - Diaspora Tribune

Having maintained the support of the Trump administration, the unpopular government of Ivan Duque has announced that it will seek to retain

Diaspora Tribune

Anyway death to US imperialism & all of its lackeys

Having maintained the support of the Trump administration, the unpopular government of Ivan Duque has announced that it will seek to retain the 5 billion dollar investment throughout Biden’s tenure. The newly conceptualized “Colombia Growth Initiative” (CGI), previously known as Plan Colombia, is said to consist of “economic initiatives accompanied with great efforts to eradicate coca production in the countryside.” Duque has also stated that the plan will continue its emphasis on combating drug trafficking.

Independent analysts, however, suggest that the motives of the program will continue to be profit-driven, interventionist and political in nature. U.S. National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, for example, bluntly stated that the plan is to advance the geopolitical goals of the U.S. in the Western Hemisphere as well as “advancing towards the security sought by the United States.” It reaffirms the imperious rhetoric observed a few months ago in his meeting with President Duque.

Plan Colombia is known to have protected transnational capital since its inception through its funding of military operations so that U.S. companies could benefit from the exploitation of natural resources. The three proposed “anti-narcotic” military bases in the original Plan Colombia were all strategically placed in mineral and energy-rich zones.

The first was located in South Bolivar, close to one of the most important gold deposits in the world. The second was near Catatumbo, Norte de Santander, alongside the Caño-Limón Covenas pipeline owned by Occidental Petroleum. Norte de Santander also possesses large coal deposits, 90% of the production of which is bought by U.S. companies to use in the steel industry. The third one was near Ataco, Tolima, overlooking important gold and precious metal deposits; this area has one of the highest rates of displacement in the country and the highest in the department of Tolima.

Additional to U.S. military bases, the Colombian government established “Rehabilitation and Consolidation Zones” areas in which civil liberties were suspended. Several studies by human rights organizations such as CINEP and Justicia y Paz have shown how the actions of paramilitaries and other mercenary groups in these areas seriously violate the human rights of the local population. Recent reports show that the decades-long Plan Colombia was a failure in combating the drug-trade but highly successful in fighting left-wing insurgents.

It is important to note that an “anti-drug-trafficking” façade has always been pushed to the public as the driving force for the project. However, U.S. policy continues to show that its main concern is protecting their private capital investments in the country.

The new Plan Colombia, the Colombian Growth Initiative, will continue to provide funding for the Colombian military and, therefore, by extension, to its paramilitary tentacles. Furthermore, it is likely that billions of dollars will go to the highly unpopular coca field fumigations across the country as well as to the further dismantling of the peace deal