Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

Last summer the U.S and Colombian government, in a joint effort, initiated a new strategy called “Plan Colombia.” Its main purpose is to restore the Colombian economy, destroy illegal crops, and fight subversive groups. The plan, which is valued at $1.3 billion, has allocated more than eighty percent of its funding for military purposes. This action has aroused the issue whether the U.S. authorities should keep focusing on mainly military aid, or if they should look for a different kind of help. Colombia has undergone a civil war that has lasted for more than a century. Recently, its internal problems have intensified because of factors such as an increase of drug production, the growth of leftist guerrilla groups and rightist paramilitary groups, and the worst economic recession in seventy years. To address these problems, the Colombian government and the international community came up with a multi-purpose plan called “Plan Colombia.” The proponents argue that it is an integral plan which not only tries to solve the drug problem, but it also attempts to solve the socio-economic problems of the country. The perspective of a complete plan with emphasis on military aid is applicable under the actual circumstances of the C