Colombia and Ecuador

     To understand US policy in Colombia, it is important to study the lucid testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee of Marine Corps Gen. Charles Wilhelm, Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Command. It showed the role Ecuador is playing in U.S. grand strategy in South America. Its government has confirmed the policy of dollarization, tying it closer to the US. It seems likely that the unsuccessful strike against dollarization was engineered precisely to hinder those ties.
     Manta, on the coast of Ecuador between Guayaquil and Esmeraldas is a banana port seldom visited by tourists. It is the site of a major U.S. airbase. When it was announced some years ago that U.S. marines had landed there to build schools, this humanitarian aid smelled a bit like a rat. General Wilhelm was asking for an expansion of this base from which he said the U.S. could cover all the coca-growing areas of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.
     As for Plan Colombia, he was firm in his assertion that the US forces were there just for drug control and that fighting the contras was a job or the Colombian army. In fact, he said, his aim was to keep US forces out of harm's way (!). He praised the Colombian government's "10,000" plan to shift that number of "bachilleres" each year to the fighting army. "Bachilleres" apparently refers to educated young men who get armchair jobs, rather like young American students who got deferment in the Vietnam War. The need for fighting men was evident when FARC forces attacked El Bordo, a village not far from Popayán in the southwest of Colombia, i.e. not far from Manta. They freed the jail prisoners, robbed the bank and blew up several buildings.
     Life continued dismally in Colombia. Women's Day was celebrated at Buen Pastor prison for women, who were allowed to receive their children. It was a touching, albeit sad sight. At the same time much publicity was given to the mistreatment of women by men. Not much to celebrate.
     The Moroccan Prime Minister was accompanied to Bogotá by his foreign minister. There may have been more substance to the visit than was at first apparent. It seems to have been connected with the fight against drugs which often reach Europe via Colombia and Morocco. If so, it may have resulted from US and European pressure.

Ronald Hilton - 3/9/00