Latin America's oldest democracy is a vigorous nation of 41 million people that for 40 years has suffered violence at the hands of brutal armed groups funded by the narcotics trade. But because of courageous action by a new administration, this need not be Colombia's future. There are signs of hope in Colombia's struggle to remain democratic and liberated from fear.
Colombia's internal conflict has been described by some as a revolutionary insurgency in which armed groups such as FARC—Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia—cloaked themselves in Marxism while they battled the government.
Today, however, Colombians know the bitter truth about these self-styled revolutionaries, as well as their right-wing paramilitary opponents: They are narcoterrorists, engaged in kidnapping, extortion, bombings and
assassination—all of which they support with profits from the cocaine and heroin trade, an industry that shackles Colombian development as it ruins lives in the United States.
The glamour of Marxist struggle still fools the naive, but today FARC is no more than the private army of the drug industry, capturing children from their families to gain recruits. It wields authority over its troops with coercion and even torture. It murders judges, journalists and human rights activists who stand in its way. It exacts forced labor for drug production from peasant farmers. It stirred world outrage with its urban bombing campaign, climaxing in the explosion at Bogota's Club Nogal that slaughtered 34 innocents. It even sent to his death an 11-year-old strapped to a bomb-laden bicycle.
The trade that FARC and the paramilitaries control has been an environmental disaster. Each year, thousands of acres are scorched and doused with chemicals that poison families and pollute rivers—all in the frenzy to produce drugs to feed U.S. and European demands.
FARC no longer has a political following, as Colombians are repulsed by its methods of death and destruction. Paramilitaries have proven no better, functioning as mercenary drug gangs fighting over spoils.
That is why newly elected President Alvaro Uribe has earned overwhelming popular support for leading the fight against them both. Uribe has initiated a campaign against the narcoterrorists as well as against the cocaine and heroin production that funds them.
The strategy is working. Cocaine and heroin production fell last year an estimated 15% and 25%, respectively, depriving narcoterrorists of their riches. Deserters are increasingly slipping away, though they risk certain death if caught.
Equally important, the fight against the violent organizations is starting to produce results. Colombians are safer today as a result of the administration's security policies. Crime is falling, and there have been steep rises in the number of insurgents killed and captured, with comparable successes against the paramilitaries.
Even better, terrorist attacks have been cut effectively in half, with a 47% decline in attacks on civilians and a 54% drop in attacks on the economic infrastructure.
We should understand these developments for what they are—the most significant advances in human rights for the Colombian people in a
generation—particularly the right to be free of war and terror.
The narcoterrorists will become increasingly desperate and may strike out against the populace. But Uribe is standing his ground. FARC murdered his father and has tried to assassinate him many times. He is not a man who gives in to fear.
Colombia's future hangs in the balance. The Uribe administration, freely and democratically chosen, deserves world support.
Walters is director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
