May 10, 2004

In December 2000, U.S.-trained counternarcotics battalions, U.S.-supplied Blackhawk helicopters and U.S.-piloted spray planes descended on Putumayo department to conduct Plan Colombia’s initial aerial fumigation campaign. In the more than three years since the initial spraying of coca crops, Putumayo has been a repeat target, as have many of the country’s other southern departments. Although the U.S. government claims its fumigation
prescriptions finally began decreasing coca cultivation in 2002 and 2003, there is still no evidence that Plan Colombia has achieved its principal goal of dramatically reducing the flow of cocaine to the United States. But
while Plan Colombia has failed to affect the price, purity and availability of cocaine in U.S. cities, its militarization of Putumayo has contributed significantly to increased oil exploration by multinational companies in
this resource-rich region. Neoliberal economic reforms that constitute the economic component of Plan Colombia have further sweetened the pot for foreign oil companies.

In July 2002, the Bush administration convinced Congress to lift conditions restricting Colombia’s U.S. military aid to counternarcotics operations, allowing it to
be used to fight the country’s illegal armed groups as part of the global war on terror. The lifting of the conditions led to the direct use of U.S. military aid to target Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
guerrillas responsible for attacking the oil operations of multinational corporations. Shortly after September 11, 2001, U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson made clear the importance of finding alternative sources of oil in
the context of the war on terror. She said that Colombia, already the third-largest exporter of oil in Latin America and one of the top ten foreign suppliers to the United States, “has the potential to export more oil to the United States, and now more than ever, it’s important for us to diversify our sources of oil.