1999–2002 FARC-Government peace process
Encyclopedia
The FARC-Government peace process (1999–2002) , from January 7, 1999 to February 20, 2002, was a failed peace process
between the Government
of President
Andrés Pastrana and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC) guerrilla group in an effort to bring to an end the ongoing Colombian Armed Conflict.
years in which bipartisan hegemony controlled and held political power. In an effort to exterminate the armed guerrilla movements the Colombian government aided by the United States launched an attack to destroy the "Marquetalia Republic
" a guerrilla enclave in central Colombia. After this attack the FARC guerrilla retreated to isolated or poor government presence areas and began establishing a parallel state governed by them. The guerrillas began extorting and kidnapping landowners and assaulting local agrarian banks (Caja Agrarias).
During the 1980s and 1990s the Colombian drug cartels had increased their power and in some cases had hired the guerrillas such as the FARC and ELN guerrillas to protect illicit cultuvations from the government forces
. The most powerful of the cartels; the Medellín
and Cali Cartel
s had engulfed in a war with the government. The Medellín Cartel led by Pablo Escobar
also became an enemy later of the FARC in a struggle to control the profitable illegal drug trafficking business. Escobar helped create right wing paramilitary groups
. The FARC guerrilla used the revenues from taxing drug lords, and cultivation and production of these to finance their rebel activities.
On August 18, 1989 the Medellín Cartel assassinated the liberal
presidential candidate
Luis Carlos Galán
. César Gaviria
replaced him and was then elected president of Colombia. Gaviria avenged the death of Galan by dismantling the Medellín Cartel, but the gap left by this organization was quickly filled by the Cali Cartel
and the FARC, which began expanding its influence and armed power in the countryside mainly.
During the government of Ernesto Samper
the opposing candidate Andrés Pastrana accused President Samper of financing its campaign with money from the Cali Cartel. The political scandal known as the "8000 Process" surged and weakened the presidency and government institutions. The United States also conditioned its support for the government, focusing mainly on aiding the military forces on operations against narcotics, that would ultimately help bring down the Cali Cartel.
Without any major adversaries in the drug business other than the growing AUC paramilitary group
, the FARC gained controlled of most the drug production and trade, as well as financing its political rhetoric and influence over most of the regions in Colombia. With the weakening of the drug cartels the guerrillas became the main issue affecting Colombia. Andrés Pastrana ran for the presidential office again and as a candidate his campaign sustained negotiations with the FARC for a possible peace process.
On October 8 both sides agreed to create a demilitarized zone
in the region of El Caguan
, a jungle region in south central Colombia made up by the municipalities of Vista Hermosa
, La Macarena
, La Uribe
and Mesetas
in Meta Department
, and San Vicente del Caguán
in Caquetá Department.
On August 7, 1998 Pastrana becomes president of Colombia for the period 1998-2002.http://www.clarin.com/diario/1998/06/22/i-02801d.htm
On December 14, 1998 the Pastrana administration and the FARC agreed to begin formal peace talks on January 7, 1999.
and CONVIVIR
security groups.
On the other hand the government tried to persuade the FARC to leave the Colombian Army
Cazadores Battalion, stationed in the area of El Caguan, but the guerrilla group opposed. Victor G Ricardo agreed to wthdraw the Battalion without consulting military officials. The government urged the FARC to support projects to manually eradicate illegal crops.http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/americas/02/09/colombia.peace.03/index.html
threatened to kidnap high profile people if the government did not comply with FARC's demands for a prisoner exchange. Some years before, the FARC had kidnapped a considerable number of military personnel, high profile politicians and government officials. Pastrana replied with a threat to end the peace process if the FARC carried out the kidnappings. On January 19 the FARC froze the dialogues stating that the AUC paramilitary groups
were resurging and demanded the government to act against these groups and its supporters within the government.
On February 6 President Pastrana extends the duration of the demilitarized zone and sets it to expire on May 7. Three days later, Pastrana and "Tirofijo" finally met publicly and set a new meeting on February 14 to resume dialogues. The FARC had purportedly frozen the peace talks because of the government's spraying of glyphosate to eradicate illegal crops as stated in the Plan Colombia
.http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/americas/02/09/colombia.peace.03/index.html
Between February 25 and March 11, three American indigenous-rights activists, Terence Freitas, Lahe'ena'e Gay, and Ingrid Washinawatok were abducted by the FARC in Arauca Department
and later assassinated. The FARC admitted the assassination and apologized. The Colombian government then accused a high ranking FARC member known as Germán Briceño (brother of Jorge Briceño
) of the assassination and the United States demanded the FARC to hand over the perpetrators. The FARC refused.
From April 20 to May 1, both parties met unofficially in El Caguan to discuss the paramilitary issue and the FARC's demands to expand the area of the demilitarized zone, which was due to expire on May 7, and to extend the timeframe.
On May 2, President Pastrana travelled to the demilitarized zone and personally met with "Tirofijo" for a second time. Pastrana convinced him to begin formal peace-talks on May 6. It was agreed that the demilitarized area would remain in size, but its expiration would be postponed. Another decision was to form an International Verification Commission to observe the agreements and the FARC's actions in the area.
On May 26, Colombian Minister of Defense, Rodrigo Lloreda resigned after criticising the president's handling of the peace process. Lloreda opposed the indefinite extension of the timeline of the demilitarized area. The High Commissioner for Peace's remarks suggesting an extension of the demilitarized area for the FARC triggered a discontent in some servicemen in the Colombian military; 18 generals also tried to resign but the president only accepted Lloreda's. The head of the armed forces, Gen. Fernando Tapias, offered President Pastrana a public show of support. Pastrana then appointed Luis Fernando Ramírez
as Defense Minister.http://www.el-mundo.es/elmundo/1999/mayo/26/internacional/colombia.html
The Center for International Policy
led a delegation of US Congressmen to Colombia. Among the representatives was William Delahunt (D-MA) and six other members of Congress, who met with government officials and representatives of political parties, church groups, peace groups, human rights groups, US government employees stationed in Colombia and the United Nations
. On June 4 the delegation of US representatives travelled to El Caguan to meet with rebel leaders. They held talks without results with guerrilla commander Raúl Reyes
regarding the drug trade, kidnappings
and the assassination of US citizens, specially related to the three US indigenous workers.
The government then announced that the formal negotiations with the FARC would begin on July 7. But a day before, both parties postponed the peace talks until July 19 alleging that three of FARC's negotiatiors could not arrive on time to the meeting, the FARC argued that they also needed more time to organize their positions regarding the International Commission, as agreed between "Tirofijo" and President Pastrana.http://www.elmundo.es/1999/07/19/internacional/19N0081.html
Between 8–12 July the FARC launched an armed offensive (called by them as "armed strikes" from the ), in which the guerrilla group attacked 15 small towns and targeted infrastructure; mainly commercial banks, bridges and energy infrastructure, random kidnappings (Colloquially called in Colombian ) as well as assaulting numerous National Police
small posts. The Military of Colombia
, with the help of the U.S. government
, counter attacked by bombing guerrilla enclaves using U.S. providedsatellite intelligence.
On July 15, 1999 Defense Minister Luis Fernando Ramírez
and the Colombian General of the Chief of Staff Fernando Tapias requested US$500 million as aid to fund counter-narcotics and counter-insurgency warfare. The then head of the US Office of National Drug Control Policy
Barry McCaffrey
called for a billion dollar as supplemental assistance for the war on drugs
in South America, half of it to be assigned to Colombia.
Conflict resolution
Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of some social conflict. Often, committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively communicating information about their conflicting motives or ideologies to the rest...
between the Government
Government of Colombia
The government of Colombiais a republic with separation of powers into executive, judicial and legislative branches.Its legislature has a congress,its judiciary has a supreme court, andits executive branch has a president....
of President
President of Colombia
The President of Colombia is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Colombia. The office of president was established upon the ratification of the Constitution of 1819, by the Congress of Angostura, convened in December 1819, when Colombia was part of "la Gran Colombia"...
Andrés Pastrana and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army is a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization based in Colombia which is involved in the ongoing Colombian armed conflict, currently involved in drug dealing and crimes against the civilians..FARC-EP is a peasant army which...
(FARC) guerrilla group in an effort to bring to an end the ongoing Colombian Armed Conflict.
Prelude
The FARC began their rebel activities in the early 1960s during the National FrontNational Front (Colombia)
National Front was a period in the history of Colombia in which the two main political parties; Liberal Party and Conservative Party agreed to let the opposite party govern, intercalating for a period of four presidential terms....
years in which bipartisan hegemony controlled and held political power. In an effort to exterminate the armed guerrilla movements the Colombian government aided by the United States launched an attack to destroy the "Marquetalia Republic
Marquetalia Republic
"Marquetalia Republic" was a term used to unofficially refer to one of the enclaves in rural Colombia which communist peasant guerrillas held during the aftermath of "La Violencia"...
" a guerrilla enclave in central Colombia. After this attack the FARC guerrilla retreated to isolated or poor government presence areas and began establishing a parallel state governed by them. The guerrillas began extorting and kidnapping landowners and assaulting local agrarian banks (Caja Agrarias).
During the 1980s and 1990s the Colombian drug cartels had increased their power and in some cases had hired the guerrillas such as the FARC and ELN guerrillas to protect illicit cultuvations from the government forces
Military of Colombia
The Military Forces of Colombia are the armed forces of the Republic of Colombia.-Services:The Military of Colombia consists of:* National Army of Colombia * Colombian National Armada - Marines, Navy and Coast Guard attached* Colombian Air Force...
. The most powerful of the cartels; the Medellín
Medellín Cartel
The Medellín Cartel was an organized network of "drug suppliers and smugglers" originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia. The drug cartel operated in Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Central America, the United States, as well as Canada and Europe throughout the 1970s and 1980s. It was founded and...
and Cali Cartel
Cali Cartel
The Cali Cartel was a drug cartel based in southern Colombia, around the city of Cali and the Valle del Cauca Department. The Cali Cartel was founded by the Rodríguez Orejuela brothers, Gilberto and Miguel, as well as associate José Santacruz Londoño...
s had engulfed in a war with the government. The Medellín Cartel led by Pablo Escobar
Pablo Escobar
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was a Colombian drug lord. He was an elusive cocaine trafficker and rich and successful criminal. He owned numerous luxury residences, automobiles, and even airplanes...
also became an enemy later of the FARC in a struggle to control the profitable illegal drug trafficking business. Escobar helped create right wing paramilitary groups
Paramilitarism in Colombia
Paramilitarism in Colombia refers to the origins and activities of far right-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia during the 20th century.Right-wing paramilitary groups are the parties considered to be most responsible for human rights violations in Colombia during the later half of the current...
. The FARC guerrilla used the revenues from taxing drug lords, and cultivation and production of these to finance their rebel activities.
On August 18, 1989 the Medellín Cartel assassinated the liberal
Colombian Liberal Party
The Colombian Liberal Party is a center-left party in Colombia that adheres to social democracy and social liberalism.The Party was founded in 1848 and, together with the Colombian Conservative Party, subsequently became one of the two main political forces in the country for over a century.After...
presidential candidate
President of Colombia
The President of Colombia is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Colombia. The office of president was established upon the ratification of the Constitution of 1819, by the Congress of Angostura, convened in December 1819, when Colombia was part of "la Gran Colombia"...
Luis Carlos Galán
Luis Carlos Galán
Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento was a Colombian journalist and liberal politician who ran for the presidency of Colombia on two occasions, the first time representing the Liberal Party in 1982 which he lost to Belisario Betancur...
. César Gaviria
César Gaviria
César Gaviria Trujillo is a Colombian politician and a Latin American statesman. He served as President of Colombia from 1990 to 1994, and Secretary General of the Organization of American States from 1994 until 2004.-Early life:...
replaced him and was then elected president of Colombia. Gaviria avenged the death of Galan by dismantling the Medellín Cartel, but the gap left by this organization was quickly filled by the Cali Cartel
Cali Cartel
The Cali Cartel was a drug cartel based in southern Colombia, around the city of Cali and the Valle del Cauca Department. The Cali Cartel was founded by the Rodríguez Orejuela brothers, Gilberto and Miguel, as well as associate José Santacruz Londoño...
and the FARC, which began expanding its influence and armed power in the countryside mainly.
During the government of Ernesto Samper
Ernesto Samper
Ernesto Samper Pizano is a Colombian politician. He served as the President of Colombia from August 7, 1994 to August 7, 1998, representing the Liberal Party. He was involved in the 8000 process scandal, which takes its name from the folio number assigned to it by the chief prosecutor's office...
the opposing candidate Andrés Pastrana accused President Samper of financing its campaign with money from the Cali Cartel. The political scandal known as the "8000 Process" surged and weakened the presidency and government institutions. The United States also conditioned its support for the government, focusing mainly on aiding the military forces on operations against narcotics, that would ultimately help bring down the Cali Cartel.
Without any major adversaries in the drug business other than the growing AUC paramilitary group
United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia
The United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia was created as an umbrella organization of regional far-right...
, the FARC gained controlled of most the drug production and trade, as well as financing its political rhetoric and influence over most of the regions in Colombia. With the weakening of the drug cartels the guerrillas became the main issue affecting Colombia. Andrés Pastrana ran for the presidential office again and as a candidate his campaign sustained negotiations with the FARC for a possible peace process.
Peace Process
Pastrana then appointed Victor G. Ricardo as High Commissioner for Peace and held conversations with Manuel Marulanda Velez (aka Tirofijo) top commander of the FARC on June 15, 1998. On July 9 elected president Pastrana travelled to the mountains of Colombia and personally met with rebel commanders including "Tirofijo" himself.On October 8 both sides agreed to create a demilitarized zone
Demilitarized zone
In military terms, a demilitarized zone is an area, usually the frontier or boundary between two or more military powers , where military activity is not permitted, usually by peace treaty, armistice, or other bilateral or multilateral agreement...
in the region of El Caguan
El Caguán DMZ
El Caguán DMZ was a demilitarized zone of 42,000 km² in southern Colombia authorized by the government of President Andrés Pastrana to negotiate a peace process with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ....
, a jungle region in south central Colombia made up by the municipalities of Vista Hermosa
Vista Hermosa, Meta
Vista Hermosa is a town and municipality in the Meta Department, Colombia....
, La Macarena
La Macarena, Meta
La Macarena is a town and municipality in the Meta Department, located about 280 km south of Bogotá, Colombia.The town was included in the former El Caguan DMZ...
, La Uribe
La Uribe
La Uribe is a town and municipality in the Meta Department, Colombia....
and Mesetas
Mesetas
Mesetas is a town and municipality in the Meta Department, Colombia....
in Meta Department
Meta Department
Meta is a department of Colombia. It is close to the geographic center of the country, to the east of the Andean mountains. A large portion of the department, which is also crossed by the Meta River, is covered by a grassland plain known as the Llanos. Its capital is Villavicencio...
, and San Vicente del Caguán
San Vicente del Caguán
San Vicente del Caguán is a town and municipality in Caquetá Department, Colombia.Between 1998 and 2002, San Vicente del Caguán was the center of the demilitarized zone , which was created as a safe haven for the FARC. Two days after the peace talks were ended, Ingrid Betancourt was kidnapped while...
in Caquetá Department.
On August 7, 1998 Pastrana becomes president of Colombia for the period 1998-2002.http://www.clarin.com/diario/1998/06/22/i-02801d.htm
On December 14, 1998 the Pastrana administration and the FARC agreed to begin formal peace talks on January 7, 1999.
Demands and proposals
The FARC demanded and proposed certain issues in order to begin; the following were proposed to quell the armed conflict; vision of the conflict, negotiation criteria, preparation of the negotiation, political legitimacy, security, participation, negotiated political settlement, civilian population, recommendations to the civilian population and rules of behavior regarding the masses. The group also considered fundamental topics; democracy, functioning of the state, the public force, social and economic aspects, agrarian reform, natural resources, sovereignty, drug trafficking, paramilitarismParamilitarism in Colombia
Paramilitarism in Colombia refers to the origins and activities of far right-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia during the 20th century.Right-wing paramilitary groups are the parties considered to be most responsible for human rights violations in Colombia during the later half of the current...
and CONVIVIR
CONVIVIR
CONVIVIR was a national program of cooperative neighbourhood watch groups created by a February 11, 1994 decree of Colombia's Ministry of National Defense and a law passed in the Colombian Congress, in response to growing guerrilla activity...
security groups.
On the other hand the government tried to persuade the FARC to leave the Colombian Army
Colombian Army
The National Army of Colombia is the land military force of the government of Colombia and the largest service of the Colombian Armed Forces...
Cazadores Battalion, stationed in the area of El Caguan, but the guerrilla group opposed. Victor G Ricardo agreed to wthdraw the Battalion without consulting military officials. The government urged the FARC to support projects to manually eradicate illegal crops.http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/americas/02/09/colombia.peace.03/index.html
Formal dialogues begin
As planned the formal dialogues began on January 7, 1999 in a ceremony at El Caguan with the presence of President Pastrana, but without the presence of "Tirofijo". The FARC argued that there was a possible threat to assassinate their commander "Tirofijo". FARC negotiator Joaquín Gómez acted on behalf of Tirofijo. President Pastrana said that "the absence of Manuel Marulanda Velez cannot be a reason to not continue with the instalment of the dialogue to agree on an agenda that will conduct us to peace".http://www.ciponline.org/colombia/past1esp.htm On January 8, "Tirofijo" showed up and insisted that there had been a possible assassination attempt.Frozen dialogues
On January 11, guerrilla commander Jorge BriceñoJorge Briceño
Víctor Julio Suárez Rojas — aka Jorge Briceño Suárez aka Mono Jojoy was a high-ranking member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia , a Colombian guerrilla organization. He was Second in command to Alfonso Cano and top military commander...
threatened to kidnap high profile people if the government did not comply with FARC's demands for a prisoner exchange. Some years before, the FARC had kidnapped a considerable number of military personnel, high profile politicians and government officials. Pastrana replied with a threat to end the peace process if the FARC carried out the kidnappings. On January 19 the FARC froze the dialogues stating that the AUC paramilitary groups
United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia
The United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia was created as an umbrella organization of regional far-right...
were resurging and demanded the government to act against these groups and its supporters within the government.
On February 6 President Pastrana extends the duration of the demilitarized zone and sets it to expire on May 7. Three days later, Pastrana and "Tirofijo" finally met publicly and set a new meeting on February 14 to resume dialogues. The FARC had purportedly frozen the peace talks because of the government's spraying of glyphosate to eradicate illegal crops as stated in the Plan Colombia
Plan Colombia
The term Plan Colombia is most often used to refer to U.S. legislation aimed at curbing drug smuggling and combating a left-wing insurgency by supporting different activities in Colombia....
.http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/americas/02/09/colombia.peace.03/index.html
Between February 25 and March 11, three American indigenous-rights activists, Terence Freitas, Lahe'ena'e Gay, and Ingrid Washinawatok were abducted by the FARC in Arauca Department
Arauca Department
Arauca is a department of Colombia located in the extreme north of the Orinoco part of Colombia , bordering Venezuela. It is bordered to the south by the Casanare River and the Meta River, which separate it from the departments of Casanare and Vichada. To the west borders with the Boyacá Department...
and later assassinated. The FARC admitted the assassination and apologized. The Colombian government then accused a high ranking FARC member known as Germán Briceño (brother of Jorge Briceño
Jorge Briceño
Víctor Julio Suárez Rojas — aka Jorge Briceño Suárez aka Mono Jojoy was a high-ranking member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia , a Colombian guerrilla organization. He was Second in command to Alfonso Cano and top military commander...
) of the assassination and the United States demanded the FARC to hand over the perpetrators. The FARC refused.
From April 20 to May 1, both parties met unofficially in El Caguan to discuss the paramilitary issue and the FARC's demands to expand the area of the demilitarized zone, which was due to expire on May 7, and to extend the timeframe.
On May 2, President Pastrana travelled to the demilitarized zone and personally met with "Tirofijo" for a second time. Pastrana convinced him to begin formal peace-talks on May 6. It was agreed that the demilitarized area would remain in size, but its expiration would be postponed. Another decision was to form an International Verification Commission to observe the agreements and the FARC's actions in the area.
On May 26, Colombian Minister of Defense, Rodrigo Lloreda resigned after criticising the president's handling of the peace process. Lloreda opposed the indefinite extension of the timeline of the demilitarized area. The High Commissioner for Peace's remarks suggesting an extension of the demilitarized area for the FARC triggered a discontent in some servicemen in the Colombian military; 18 generals also tried to resign but the president only accepted Lloreda's. The head of the armed forces, Gen. Fernando Tapias, offered President Pastrana a public show of support. Pastrana then appointed Luis Fernando Ramírez
Luis Fernando Ramírez
Luis Fernando Ramírez Acuña is a Colombian politician former Defense and labor minister and Vice Presidential candidate. Ramírez led the Ministry of Defense during President Andrés Pastrana's government and had to deal with the peace process between the government and the Revolutionary Armed...
as Defense Minister.http://www.el-mundo.es/elmundo/1999/mayo/26/internacional/colombia.html
Center for International Policy
The Center for International Policy is a non-profit public policy research and advocacy think tank with offices in Washington, D.C. and New York City. It was founded in 1975 in response to the Vietnam War. The Center describes its mission as "promoting a U.S...
led a delegation of US Congressmen to Colombia. Among the representatives was William Delahunt (D-MA) and six other members of Congress, who met with government officials and representatives of political parties, church groups, peace groups, human rights groups, US government employees stationed in Colombia and the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. On June 4 the delegation of US representatives travelled to El Caguan to meet with rebel leaders. They held talks without results with guerrilla commander Raúl Reyes
Raúl Reyes
Luis Edgar Devia Silva , better known by his nom de guerre Raúl Reyes, was a Secretariat member, spokesperson, and advisor to the Southern Bloc of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-EP...
regarding the drug trade, kidnappings
Kidnappings in Colombia
Kidnappings in Colombia refers to the practice of kidnapping in the Republic of Colombia. This criminal practice was first introduced in modern Colombian history during the early 1970s by the guerrilla movements and, later, also by criminal groups...
and the assassination of US citizens, specially related to the three US indigenous workers.
The government then announced that the formal negotiations with the FARC would begin on July 7. But a day before, both parties postponed the peace talks until July 19 alleging that three of FARC's negotiatiors could not arrive on time to the meeting, the FARC argued that they also needed more time to organize their positions regarding the International Commission, as agreed between "Tirofijo" and President Pastrana.http://www.elmundo.es/1999/07/19/internacional/19N0081.html
Between 8–12 July the FARC launched an armed offensive (called by them as "armed strikes" from the ), in which the guerrilla group attacked 15 small towns and targeted infrastructure; mainly commercial banks, bridges and energy infrastructure, random kidnappings (Colloquially called in Colombian ) as well as assaulting numerous National Police
Colombian National Police
The National Police of Colombia is the national police force of Colombia. Although the National Police is not part of the Military of Colombia , it constitutes along with them the "Public Force" and is also controlled by the Ministry of Defense. They are the largest police force in Colombia...
small posts. The Military of Colombia
Military of Colombia
The Military Forces of Colombia are the armed forces of the Republic of Colombia.-Services:The Military of Colombia consists of:* National Army of Colombia * Colombian National Armada - Marines, Navy and Coast Guard attached* Colombian Air Force...
, with the help of the U.S. government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
, counter attacked by bombing guerrilla enclaves using U.S. providedsatellite intelligence.
On July 15, 1999 Defense Minister Luis Fernando Ramírez
Luis Fernando Ramírez
Luis Fernando Ramírez Acuña is a Colombian politician former Defense and labor minister and Vice Presidential candidate. Ramírez led the Ministry of Defense during President Andrés Pastrana's government and had to deal with the peace process between the government and the Revolutionary Armed...
and the Colombian General of the Chief of Staff Fernando Tapias requested US$500 million as aid to fund counter-narcotics and counter-insurgency warfare. The then head of the US Office of National Drug Control Policy
Office of National Drug Control Policy
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy , a former cabinet level component of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, was established in 1989 by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988...
Barry McCaffrey
Barry McCaffrey
Barry Richard McCaffrey is a retired United States Army general, former U.S. Drug Czar, news commentator, and business consultant....
called for a billion dollar as supplemental assistance for the war on drugs
War on Drugs
The War on Drugs is a campaign of prohibition and foreign military aid and military intervention being undertaken by the United States government, with the assistance of participating countries, intended to both define and reduce the illegal drug trade...
in South America, half of it to be assigned to Colombia.