Colombia House Record
Support for Plan Colombia
1111--05/16/01 On-the-Record Briefing: Andean Regional Initiative; R. Rand Beers, Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs ; On-the-Record Briefing: Andean Regional Initiative; Washington, DC ... 1111--07/09/03 Disrupting the Market: Strategy, Implementation, and Results in Narcotics Source Countries; Paul E. Simons, Acting Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs; Testimony Before the House Committee on Government Reform; Washington, DC ... [Read More]
Plan Colombia: Major Successes and New Challenges
Eradication is the cornerstone of our counternarcotics efforts in Colombia. At least a third of the State Department’s counternarcotics and law enforcement budget is dedicated--either directly or indirectly--to this endeavor. We are reducing supply by destroying the drugs at their source, where they are stationary and thus easier to identify and locate. In 2004, Colombia, working closely with the United States, aerially sprayed a record 136,551 hectares (more than 300,000 acres) of coca and over 3,000 hectares (some 7,000 acres) of opium poppy. The 114,100 hectares of coca under cultivation at the end of 2004 represented a 33 percent reduction from the peak-growing year of 2001 when almost 170,000 hectares of illicit coca were under cultivation. While the 2004 cultivation numbers from the Crime and Narcotics Center (CNC) were very similar to 2003, the potential production of cocaine was down in Colombia by 7 percent. This reduction is due to the greater numb ... [Read More]
Remarks
1111--07/09/03 Disrupting the Market: Strategy, Implementation, and Results in Narcotics Source Countries; Paul E. Simons, Acting Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs; Testimony Before the House Committee on Government Reform; Washington, DC ... 1111--12/12/02 America's Heroin Crisis; Paul E. Simons, Acting Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs; Testimony Before the House Committee on Government Reform; Washington, DC ... [Read More]
Western Hemisphere
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Colombia (02/05)
Colombia's bicameral Congress consists of a 102-member Senate and a 161-member House of Representatives. Senators are elected on the basis of a nationwide ballot, while representatives are elected in multimember districts co-located within the 32 national departments. ... Halfway through his four-year term, President Uribe enjoys record high popularity ratings around 70% as a result of improvements in public security. Between May 2002 and September 2004 Colombia saw a decrease in homicide by 17.6%, massacres by 55.4%, kidnappings by 35.1%, and acts of terrorism by 18.4%. The economy is projected to grow by over 4% in 2004, compared to 3% in 2003. Coca and poppy cultivation has decreased by 33% since 2001. ... [Read More]
Aid to Colombia: The European Role in the Fight Against Narcoterrorism
This year our spray goal for coca and opium poppy is ambitious: 130,000 hectares of coca and all opium poppy. To date, we are ahead of schedule on these eradication milestones. As of November 15, 2004, we have sprayed over 119,000 hectares of coca and over 3,000 hectares of poppy. When we meet our 2004 goals, it will be the third year in a row that coca and opium poppy eradication has increased. I am certain that we will meet the spray goals for 2004, and we will have our third year in a row of record eradication. I wish I could then say "Three strikes and you are out," to the narcotraffickers, but much remains to be done. However, record eradication statistics combined with record seizure numbers are going to have a positive effect on our constant efforts to keep illegal drugs off the streets of America. ... [Read More]
State's Noriega Hails Colombia's Progress Against Illicit Drugs - US Department of State
The official said drug-crop eradication, narcotics interdiction, and related arrests are at record levels in Colombia. Colombia's aerial eradication program sprayed more than 136,000 hectares of coca and 3,000 hectares of opium poppy in 2004, Noriega told the House of Representatives' House International Relations Committee. ... Such extraditions are at record levels, Noriega said. Since Uribe took office in August 2002, his administration has extradited 217 fugitives for large-scale narcotics trafficking, drug-related money laundering, racketeering, murder and terrorism offenses. ... [Read More]
2004
1111--04/01/04 Afghanistan: Are the British Counternarcotics Efforts Going Wobbly; Robert B. Charles, Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs; Testimony Before the House Committee on Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources; Washington, DC ... 1111--03/02/04 U.S. Policy and the Andean Counterdrug Initiative (ACI); Robert B. Charles, Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs; Testimony Before the House Government Reform Committee Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources; Washington, DC ... [Read More]
Releases
1111--03/28/05 On-the-Record Briefing on the Release of "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record 2004 - 2005"; Michael Kozak, Acting Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; Washington, DC ... [Read More]
Joining Efforts for Colombia
Here’s a question I get: has Plan Colombia accomplished anything? Let me review for you some of the accomplishments of President Pastrana’s Plan Colombia:In July 2000, with bipartisan congressional support, the United States approved $1.3 billion in support for Plan Colombia as part of a larger Colombian effort to combat drug production and trafficking, strengthen democratic institutions and human rights, foster socio-economic development, and mitigate the impact of the violence on Colombian civilians.In December 2001, President Bush received bipartisan Congressional support for his Andean Regional Initiative, investing an additional $625 million for Colombia and its neighbors. The United States has trained and equipped the Colombian Army’s Counternarcotics brigade. This brigade, vetted to exclude any officer or soldier with a record of human rights violations, has destroyed 818 base laboratories and 21 drug laboratories and provided secu ... [Read More]
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