US anti-drug funds from Washington appear to have funded companies in Colombia with links to ultra-violent paramilitary groups and drug traffickers. The monies were funneled to these companies via PLan Colombia, the multi-billion-dollar military aid package. Research support for this report was provided by the Puffin Foundation Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute with additional support from Project Word.
An in depth interview on how Plan Colombia provided US-taxpayer funds to murderous paramilitary groups and drug traffickers. The funds were to support the cultivation of oil palms, which can be used to make biofuels. All in an effort that's part of the U.S.-backed war on drugs and the Colombian government's drive to become a biofuels powerhouse.
U.S. anti-drug aid to Colombia found its way into the hands of businesses owned by violent narco-paramilitaries, according to an article published by The Nation. Investigative journalist – and FSRN contributor – Teo Ballvé wrote the report. He recently spoke to FSRN about his findings.
Teo Ballve, periodista de The Nation, es autor del artículo titulado 'The Darkside of Plan Colombia' en el cual afirma que el Plan Colombia dio dineros a una empresa de 'Macaco' y otras que tenían vínculos con paramilitares.
Colombia's decades-long civil war has produced a massive humanitarian crisis. The country has the largest internal refugee population in the world after Sudan's. Forced displacement in Colombia reached almost unprecedented proportions in 2008, the second-worst year on record. Behind the numbers is an array factors, from a renewed government offensive against armed groups, to the changing dynamics of the drug trade.
Afro-Colombian communities in the northwestern province of Chocó were violently forced to leave their lands in the late 1990s. When they returned in 2002, they found their farms covered in oil palms, which are grown to produce biofuels. Despite almost certain reprisal, they are fighting to get these lands back.