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 Colombian voters reject Plan Colombia
The big losers in late-October's
state and municipal elections in Colombia were that nation's
president Andrés Pastrana - whose party lost all 30 state
governorships - and the US officials who imposed the $1.3 billion
dollar "Plan Colombia" military intervention.
The Colombian people, on October 29, 2000, soundly rejected Plan
Colombia, as new parties and coalitions surged forward to take
half the nation's states from both leading political parties
- Conservative and Liberal - in a nation that for 40 years has
had a US-style two-party system.
Civil society, the power of the people, has stepped forward in
Colombia to assert itself against the two political parties that
have dominated that nation for four decades. What will probably
not be noted in the US press is the main difference between Colombia's
1997 state and municipal elections and those held on Sunday,
October 29, 2000.
In 1997 the guerrilla movement boycotted the elections. This
year, they announced they would not interfere. And the right
wing fell into the abyss of the ballot box.
What did happen in October's elections in Colombia? According
to the daily El Espectador of Bogotá (10/30/00, and thanks
to NarcoNews translation):
The steep fall of the Conservative Party (interpreted by some
analysts as a punishment against the government of President
Pastrana), the rise of an indigenous candidate to the Governorship
of Cauca, the arrival of a shoe-shine man on the city council
of Bogotá, the protest of the independent vote in the
Colombian capitol and the punishment of the liberal party in
Antioquia, are the most significant aspects in yesterday's regional
and local elections.
The headlines from the daily El Tiempo of Bogotá (10/30/00)
repeated the same:
- Conservativism: the Great
Loser in the Elections
- The main loser in these
elections was the Conservative Party
- The Independents are those
who won the most terrain
- Coalitions are becoming
more and more necessary
Adding flavor to the new political
possibilities is the election of the Indigenous Governor of Cauca,
Floro Tunubalá, whose platform of governing is notable
in its critique of "Plan Colombia" and in favor of
manual (not chemical) eradication of illicit crops. The entire
South of the country could generate a contradictory dynamic,
between the plans of the President, the insurgency and paramilitaries,
and platforms of the new governors, say other reports coming
out of Colombia.
Is this the moment to say that President Andrés Pastrana
has lost all legitimacy in Colombia because he sold out to Washington?
According to NarcoNews reports, Pastrana's position was weakened
considerably on Election Day relative to the guerrilla forces.
Though under-armed, the guerrilla in the first weeks of Plan
Colombia has won more military battles than it has lost, and
the Armed Forces have suffered more casualties than the guerrilla.
A negotiated peace is the only way out. In sum, here is the situation:
- The Colombian people have
rejected the policy of drug war militarization pushed by Washington
and accepted by Pastrana.
- The majority of Colombians
have cast their votes: No to Plan Colombia.
- Regionally, the political
left surged in October's municipal elections in Brazil.
- The US-imposed drug war -
for its hypocrisy, its damage to the environment, to human rights,
and to democracy - is losing ground in Central and South America
every day.
There is no justice in the
war on drugs.
Thanks to NarcoNews.Com and Al Giordano for this story.
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