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Eradicating Coca From Macarena NP-A Huge Operation

C&P from the Miami Herald

Colombian troops try to rid park of coca

DAN MOLINSKI-Associated Press

BOGOTA, Colombia - "Some 3,000 armed troops were deployed to one of Colombia's most pristine national parks Wednesday as part of a bold operation to clear the rebel-controlled region of cocaine laboratories and the plants used to make the drug.
It is the largest coca eradication drive in Colombia's history and could lead to battles with the country's main rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which makes money by cocaine trafficking, warned Gen. Jorge Daniel Castro.
"It's going to be very difficult because this is the FARC's territory," Castro, the national police chief, told The Associated Press before departing for the park to lead the operation. "This is an extremely risky operation."
President Alvaro Uribe vowed last month to destroy all the coca fields in the Sierra Macarena National Park after the rebels killed 29 soldiers in a surprise attack just outside the preserve, 105 miles south of Bogota.
The rebel group has not commented on the plan, but the advance notice has given the rebels plenty of time to prepare.
"The FARC will not go quietly. But after an initial resistance, they will retreat as they always do, then wait for the government forces to leave and then they will return," said Leon Valencia, a political analyst who was formerly a guerrilla with another leftist group.
Uribe blamed the Dec. 27 assault, in which the guerrillas outgunned the soldiers nearly five to one, on the rebels' increased wealth from drug trafficking and their use of the Macarena nature preserve as a refuge to grow coca.
U.S.-owned fumigation planes spray weed killer over tens of thousands of acres of Colombian coca fields each year, but bypass the country's 36 nature parks due to environmental concerns - a point not overlooked by coca farmers, who have invaded at least 11 of the parks, Castro said.
The December attack was the deadliest on government forces since Uribe took office three years ago on a promise to wipe out the rebels. And while the president's military actions have brought a sharp drop in kidnappings and homicides, they have had little impact on the 12,000-member FARC's strike capabilities.
About 900 farmers have been hired to rip up the coca plants by hand inside the 1.6 million-acre Macarena park. The project, called "Operation Macarena" begins Thursday and will take about three months - until "the last coca plant" in the park is yanked out by its roots, Castro said.
About 1,500 police officers arrived inside the park during the past two days, while 2,000 army soldiers have been deployed just outside the park, the military said.
The ground troops are supported by U.S.-loaned helicopter gunships, Castro said. Eleven U.N. observers were also to be on hand.
The armed forces are mainly there to protect the farmers who will rip up the coca plants under the hot and humid jungle sun.
But the police also plan to wipe out the cocaine trade inside the park, blowing up concrete bridges and destroying clandestine roads built by the rebels to facilitate drug-running.
Several cocaine laboratories, which use gasoline, cement, hydrochloric acid and other chemicals to process coca leaves into cocaine, will also be destroyed before they pollute more rivers and soil, Castro said.
The government has ripped out coca from other nature parks, including the Sierra Nevada National Park in northern Colombia, where 540 acres of the plants were destroyed. But the Macarena effort will dwarf all the others combined, with plans to clear all 11,400 acres of coca there, police said.
Retaking the park would remove a key financing source for the rebels, Castro said. "It would have to cause them many economic problems."
But Valencia said the biggest losers will be local farmers who sell to the rebels. The rebels will find other coca suppliers, he said."

By Sam Salmon on Jan 18, 2006, 21:02 in Politics & the war.

Miguel says on Jan 19, 2006, 01:02:

US State Dept e-mail I got this yesterday, and it is an update to include the latest goverment offensive...

Colombia Travel Warning January 18, 2006 This Travel Warning updates ongoing security concerns in Colombia and reminds American citizens of those concerns. This supersedes the Travel Warning issued May 4, 2005. The Department of State warns U.S. citizens of the dangers of travel to Colombia. Violence by narcoterrorist groups and other criminal elements continues to affect all parts of the country, urban and rural, including border areas. Citizens of the United States and other countries continue to be victims of threats, kidnappings, and other criminal acts. Violence in recent years has decreased markedly in most urban areas, including Bogotá, Medellin, Barranquilla, and Cartagena. The level of violence in Cali and its surrounding areas remains high, largely as a result of the illicit drug trade. Many rural portions of Colombia also remain extremely dangerous due to the presence of narcoterrorists and Colombian government operations against them. At least five Americans were kidnapped in 2004, and at least one in 2005. No one can be considered immune from kidnapping on the basis of occupation, nationality, or other factors. Terrorist groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), and other criminal organizations, continue to kidnap civilians for ransom or as political bargaining chips. The FARC have held three American official contractors hostage since February 2003. Although the U.S. government places the highest priority on the safe recovery of kidnapped Americans, it is U.S. policy not to make concessions to or strike deals with kidnappers. Consequently, the U.S. government's ability to assist kidnapping victims is limited. Official Americans and their families are permitted to travel to major cities, but only by air, and may not use inter- or intra-city bus transportation. They also are not permitted to travel by road outside of urban areas at night. All Americans in Colombia are urged to follow these precautions. As the Department develops information on potential security threats to U.S. citizens overseas, it shares credible threats through its Consular Information Program documents, available on the Internet at http://travel.state.gov. U.S. citizens should consult warden messages for Colombia at http://bogota.usembassy.gov/wwwsc093.shtml, as well as the Department of State's Consular Information Sheet for Colombia and Worldwide Caution Public Announcement at http://travel.state.gov. U.S. travelers can also get up-to-date information on security conditions by calling 1-888-407-4747 in the U.S. or Canada or on a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444.

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soldoncol says on Jan 19, 2006, 06:58:

kick some rebel ass give colombia back to its people to live in peace

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Tinto (Moderator) says on Jan 19, 2006, 12:31:

Concrete bridges? Sounds like another example of the government not knowing what goes on in large parts of the country.

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juancegomez says on Jan 19, 2006, 14:57:

Tinto If by large you mean "rural, isolated, wild and vastly underpopulated", then yes, that's completely true.

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cali373 says on Jan 20, 2006, 07:25:

I hope this program really works and is implemented in areas where Aerial fumigation is destroying and contaminating the Beautiful land of Colombia. Not to mention making children sick. However iti si probably safe to say that erradication itself does not work because plants will just pop up elsewhere, just as fast.

Sometimes Uribe suprises me. I really hope he puts much effort into this and is not a political stunt.

Smile if you are a thinker!

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caslug says on Jan 20, 2006, 13:52:

good govt effort..instead of spraying.. there's providing jobs for over 1000 workers at $25k peso/day or 600k peso/month, more than the minimum wage for two or three months.

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kat1 (Moderator) says on Jan 20, 2006, 14:01:

You know the problem now, that the Farc told all of those campesinos living in the veredas to abadone their places or they will kill them and if they find out they are helping the army they will be kill too. Now those Campesinos are invading near farms around the La macarena town and vista hermosa, i just heard from a very reliable source that tomorrow they are going to thrown out of them, what are this people going to do? no money, no place to live, I think it's very sad, why the goverment don't think about the consequence for those people that they just been caught in the middle.

engage brain before opening mouth

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Miguel says on Jan 20, 2006, 14:42:

Exactamente kat1 Those campesinos are S.O.L., and the cultivation simply shifts to another location, and the cycle continues.

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caslug says on Jan 20, 2006, 14:51:

actually the peasants(workers) are from other part of COL, i got that impression reading another article, i think that's why they took the job.

"Uniformed peasants hired from across the South American country set out Thursday, small shovels in hand under a blaring sun, into the chest-high, verdant coca fields.

"When we hear gunfire we know what to do: Stop, don't run, and drop to the ground face down," said Jose Luis Aristizabal, 53, who traveled across from Colombia's coffee growing region to take the job, which pays $12 a day." -AP

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kat1 (Moderator) says on Jan 20, 2006, 14:57:

well tinto they are, if they help the Guerrillas, they get kill by the auc or army and if they help the army or auc they get kill by the guerrilla, now is not jobs in that veredas, no proper equipments for them to work, and the coca is giving them food for their family, what you think they are going to choose.

I remembered talking to a girl in a hairdressing salon, she came from Vichada to work in Bogota, she told me she had to leave her towm because of her son, he was reaching an age which the guerrilla was very interesting in him, she said the army came and throw them out and erradicate some of the coca plantation, but the goverment didn't supply them with equipments or money to work in the fields, they didn't have another option that to move somewhere else to find where they can plant more coca. because unfortunatlety it pay well. those campesinos are going to move somewhere else and start planting again.

engage brain before opening mouth

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Tinto (Moderator) says on Jan 20, 2006, 15:00:

Right, I agree the larger problem is a lack of opportunity and grinding rural poverty. But somehow, these people survived a few centuries without growing coca. What changed so much in the last 20-25-30 years? Did the FARC and AUC steal all their land?

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kat1 (Moderator) says on Jan 20, 2006, 15:01:

Caslug the ones living near the park have been treaten, that is why they are going to la macarena town and vista hermosa, because the farc treaten them, those campesinos have been living with those people for ages so they know them and are scare.

engage brain before opening mouth

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kat1 (Moderator) says on Jan 20, 2006, 15:05:

tinto they did. if you got a field and the guerrilla wants you to plant there, what are you going to said to them ? they hide the coca under the plantain trees, and campesinos never have a fair deal, imaging the guerrilla is offering them them 50.000cop per crop or so on how could you turn that, when the goverment don't offer them even a fair trade. I had a friend she was a raspachina and she told sometimes they paid her the month salary of what she is earning now as a maid in one crop. and if it wasn't the guerrilla them it was the narcos. the Campesinos are an easy target.

engage brain before opening mouth

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Sr Tertius says on Jan 21, 2006, 09:45:

No opinion here I just thought of sharing an article from El Tiempo. For illustrative purposes only:

http://eltiempo.terra.com.co/naci/boyaca/noticias/ARTICULO-WEB-_NOTA_INTERIOR-2703263.html

"When the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger" (Chinese proverb)

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cali373 says on Jan 23, 2006, 08:16:

*Tinto* "What changed so much in the last 20-25-30 years? Did the FARC and AUC steal all their land?"
No globalization and liberal economic policies happened.

Smile if you are a thinker!

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