Drug Trafficking and Plan Colombia the Focus of Regional Defense Ministers' Meeting

 
Drug trafficking and its role in hemispheric security was the main theme of the fourth meeting of defense ministers of the Americas in Manaus, Brazil. The first meeting was held in 1995 in Williamsburg, Virginia to improve transparency in defense issues and pursue negotiated solutions to regional conflicts. Follow-up sessions in Bariloche, Argentina and Cartagena, Colombia in 1996 and 1998 established the goals of regional cooperation and support for UN peacekeeping missions, as well as condemnation of terrorism in all of its forms.

The cornerstone of the Manaus discussions was the Plan Colombia and concerns that Colombia's drug trafficking problem will spill over the borders of neighboring countries. Ecuador was among the countries that raised this scenario. The Ecuadorian minister of defense, Hugo Anda Aguirre, claimed that more than 1000 Colombians have already fled over the border into Ecuador, and many more are expected to follow. "Colombia's internal problems are increasing, and are extending into other countries," he said.

Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso preferred to see Colombia's problems as confined to that country. "Plan Colombia is a Colombian issue," he said at the meeting. "It has nothing to do with Brazil."

Venezuela stated its worries about the military component of the plan. "The way in which it has been presented, it could generate more violence," warned the Venezuelan minister of defense, General Ismael Hurtado Soucre. His Colombian counterpart, Luis Fernando Ramírez, dismissed this argument. "Violence is a problem and will always be a problem where there is drug trafficking," he pointed out. "The easiest thing for Colombia would be to do nothing, but doing nothing is the best way to guarantee that outlaw groups will become stronger and cross over borders."

Ramírez's comments were echoed by James Bodner, the US representative, who repeated the United States' backing for the Plan Colombia and lamented the lack of solidarity among the South American countries.

It was clear from the meeting that Colombia's neighbors continue to worry that the drug trafficking phenomenon will extend throughout their region. The debate over the Plan Colombia has focused attention on this problem, which represents a serious threat to regional security. Each country must be willing to make the fight against drug trafficking a priority and take responsibility for its share of the problem as part of a collective commitment to prevent its spread.