Since Colombia accepted the 25 million dollars from the United States to “eliminate all of the disagreements produced by the political events that occurred in Panama in 1903” as part of the Thomson-Urrutia treaty of 1921, the U.S. government has always held a place of honor at the table of Colombian politics. It is a place that it has not abandoned, as was demonstrated last week. On Sunday, the Colombian government backed off after Vice President Francisco Santos proposed the end of Plan Colombia. He was complaining that the few dollars that Colombia received in aid did not justify the mistreatment that the country was receiving in certain circles in Washington. But he was swiftly corrected by Minister of Foreign Relations Jaime Bermúdez who said, “We have to continue with Plan Colombia. This plan is needed in order to be able to consolidate results in the fight against drug trafficking and terrorism.”
Days before, Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos had announced the transfer of U.S. equipment and aircraft from the Manta base in Ecuador to Colombia. On Wednesday Colombia woke up to the news that Senator Patrick Leahy had frozen 72 million dollars in military aid, given his concern about the “false positives” scandal. On Thursday it was announced that the United Sates would request the extradition of David Murcia of DMG, the company at the center of the pyramid scheme scandal. That informational barrage, far from being exceptional, reflects the level of interference that the three branches of power that the United States have in Colombia, possibly the highest level it has had in the history of relations between the two countries.
American influence isn’t new, but few are the times that it has affected the daily life of Colombians like what is being experienced today. If the pillar of any state is the judicial system, in Colombia it has a great American influence. The criminal justice system that has been implemented in the last few years is not only inspired on the U.S. system, but also promoted and financed by Washington. Colombian investigators are instructed by their American counterparts.
The participation of the United States isn’t limited to that. According to what sources at the Fiscalía, the prosecutor general’s office, have told SEMANA, U.S. officials have a key role in several critical fronts like in the use of polygraphs to determine the suitability of Colombian investigators. In cases that interest the United States such as drug trafficking and human rights, agents from the FBI or Justice Department directly intervene.
Criminal military justice is being transformed to replicate the Pentagon model through training of Colombian judges and investigators.
Extradition, formerly an exceptional tool in combating the big drug capos – the Medellín and Calí cartels – is used today in an indiscriminate manner. There have been more than 800 Colombians extradited since 2002, of whom only a small percentage would qualify as falling under the category of being too powerful or too dangerous in order to be tried in Colombia, which was the reason why extradition was implemented.
Also, Mario Iguarán, the head of the Fiscalía, or other judicial officials are traveling often to Washington, not only to meet with their counterparts at the Department of Justice but also to present defenses and explanations to members of Congress and their advisors.
Providing updates to members of the U.S. Congress is not a coincidence. Colombian institutions, including the Fiscalía, annually receive more than 500 million dollars from American contributions. This transfer of money is what gives politicians in the United States carte blanche to meddle in Colombian affairs. They do so gladly. Not only in judicial matters, but also in human rights, national security, social policy and even how labor relations should be applied in Colombia.
Thanks to the Leahy Amendment which was approved in 1997 during the Samper administration, aid can be denied to military units that are suspected of human rights violations. The norm is so vague and subject to interpretations that any member of the public forces can be accused of being a criminal. This problem stems from Senator Patrick Leahy, by being head of the Senate Appropriations Committee, having the power of blocking funds, as had happened last week with 72 million dollars for Plan Colombia. Normally who decides that is his advisor Tim Reiser, who is in charge of following up on Colombian issues. Thus, military forces can be at the mercy of a congressional staffer in Washington.
Leahy is not the only legislator who has the power of oversight or influence. Representative Gregory Meeks convinced the Uribe government that if it paid attention to the Afro-Colombian community, the Congressional Black Caucus (a group of 41 black representatives) would support the Free Trade Agreement (FTA). That explained the designation of the Colombian minister of culture and a vice-minister of social protection in June 2007, according to what sources of both governments have told SEMANA. The same reason is behind the package of 15 million dollars from Plan Colombia that must be invested in Afro-Colombian communities in the Pacific region.
In the delicate area of national security, U.S. participation, although discreet, is manifested in the presence of U.S. military personnel and contractors in strategic places: the Tres Esquinas, Apiay, Tolemaida, Arauca and Buenaventura bases. A great deal of donated equipment cannot be moved or used without the prior authorization of the United States. If aircraft and U.S. military equipment is transferred from Manta to Colombia, would they allow that same lack of autonomy?
Such is the Colombian-U.S. integration in defense matters that the Colombian government often uses the same purchasing system that the Pentagon uses, to achieve economies of scale, according to what a former security official told SEMANA.
The so-called “Consolidation Plan” in areas that were previously controlled by guerrillas has a strong American component. Many of the resources come from USAID. This allows U.S. officials to have influence on how and where the money is spent.
The influence of the U.S. in Colombia precedes the Uribe government. The war against drug trafficking and the FARC led to Colombian governments to approach Washington more and more. But the current administration has gone further than its predecessors. The Colombian government signed an agreement which grants immunity to official U.S. personnel implicated in crimes against humanity so that they would not be brought before the International Criminal Court, but rather by U.S. courts.
But perhaps the biggest signal that Colombia appears to becoming an extension of the United States can be seen by the behavior of its opposition leaders. Senator Juan Fernando Cristo of the Liberal Party, for example, has just returned from a trip to Washington where he explained and sought support for the “law for victims”. Senator Piedad Córdoba wants to hand over the humanitarian accord to Democratic Representative Jim McGovern. Colombian trade unions allied themselves with their U.S. counterparts against the FTA because it would eliminate jobs for U.S. workers. Thanks to pressure by U.S. unions, the labor strike law in Colombia was changed.
There are many areas where U.S. economic aid results in influence in strategic internal affairs in Colombia. Facing this situation, one should not demonize Washington’s cooperation, which without a doubt has been beneficial for Colombia in important aspects such as human rights, security, the fight against drug trafficking and combating the guerrillas. But neither is it advisable that many national security and domestic policy decisions must be authorized by American officials. That often happens, creating intervention in internal affairs that violates national sovereignty.