Article: United States Sees International Donors Giving More Help to Colombia

31 October 2000

United States Sees International Donors Giving More Help to Colombia

Officials review results of Bogota donors' meeting

By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The international donor community seems increasingly likely to provide additional financial aid to the social and economic aspects of Colombia's $7,500 million plan to combat illegal drug trafficking and promote development, according to Clinton Administration officials.

Discussing the outcome of an international donors meeting for Colombian President Andres Pastrana's "Plan Colombia," held in Bogota October 24, one U.S. official said the problems of the Andean nation are "clearly getting more attention" from the European Community and elsewhere, which he described as a long-standing goal of the United States. The meeting was attended by representatives of the United States, Latin American countries, the European Union and Nordic countries, as well as Japan, Canada, and various international organizations.

The official said there is still reluctance from European donors to help finance what is called the "military side" of Plan Colombia, but added: "I think there are signs the donor community is taking seriously Colombia's problems and will put in some money on the social development side." Depending on which targets are identified, this official foresaw the Europeans pledging between $250 million and $330 million for the social and economic aspects of Plan Colombia.

State Department official William Brownfield, representing the United States at the Bogota meeting, told donors that Pastrana's strategy for addressing Colombia's problems offers "ample opportunities" for donor countries to pick and choose their areas of assistance. "Given the magnitude of Colombia's requirements, there is much that we can do in specific areas that will help Colombia address its interlocking challenges," he said.

Brownfield, who is deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, said U.S. support for Plan Colombia includes both development and counter-narcotics assistance. The aid package, he said, has a "robust counter-narcotics element, but it also contains $230 million to support alternative development, social programs, environmental protection, good governance, the rule of law, administration of justice, respect for human rights, and the peace process."

The international community pledged $871 million for Colombia at a previous donors meeting held July 7 in Madrid, Spain. The hope is that another $1,500 million or so, spread over two years, can be raised from the international donors.

The final tally for what the Europeans will pledge for Plan Colombia has not been determined, said the U.S. official, "but the Bogota meeting served to show that the Europeans are trying to do more" in the social and economic area. Where there seems to be a difference of opinion between the Europeans and the United States, he said, is on the "efficacy" of the Colombian government's aerial spraying campaign, which is supported by the United States and is designed to reduce Colombia's coca crop.

The official said representatives at the Bogota meeting, which was hosted by the Colombian government with organizational support from the Inter-American Development Bank, agreed that another donors conference will be held in Brussels, Belgium, in March or April of 2001. At that time, the international donors will have defined with "greater precision" their contributions to Plan Colombia, said the official. What was "striking" in Bogota, the official added, was that most of the European countries sent delegations from their capitals to the meeting "and there was certainly a lot of support for Colombia in this difficult time."