DOUBLE
STANDARD TIMES TWO
Is
it one law for the gringo, and another for Colombians? No,
it is much worse – for Col. Hiett and his drug
dealer wife have it a lot better than ordinary Americans who
are caught smuggling drugs into this country. Mrs. Hiett got
just five years for a crime that would ordinarily get you
at least 20 to 30 years in the slammer. But agents and employees
of the US government are exempt from the rules they impose
on the rest of us. Although they are not, of course, immune
from the temptations that bedevil us all, as the rest of this
developing story makes all too clear. . . .
LIARS,
THIEVES, DRUG LORDS, AND STOOL PIGEONS
Jorge
Ayala, chauffeur and bodyguard formerly in the employ of the
American Embassy in Bogota, has a rather interesting story
to tell. From his jail cell in a high-security Bogota prison,
Ayala avers that a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) official
was instrumental in the Hietts' heroin-smuggling scheme. Hiett
and his wife are just the tip of the iceberg: the real shocker
is that all this went on while US Marine guards obligingly
looked the other way: Colombians are up in arms over the Hietts'
lenient sentence, and the left-of-center Cabinet recently
installed by Pastrana is under considerable political pressure
to stand up to the Americans. Tensions are high. When it was
reported that Colombians had cleared the way for the US to
introduce a coca-eradicating fungus, the Colombian minister
of the environment denounced US government officials as "liars."
These
are our allies, to whom we just handed $1.3 billion,
faithfully reflecting the views of their constituents. If
the government falls, only the Colombian military stands between
the guerrillas and Bogota. In this context, the Hiett scandal
couldn't have come at a worse time for the US: it has electrified
the political atmosphere of Colombia, inflamed
public opinion against the American interlopers, and could
yet lead to increased political instability in an already
volatile region. The charges of a cover-up are reverberating
throughout Colombia, and Ayala, who is fighting extradition
to the US for his alleged involvement in the scheme, is a
potent symbol of just why they are beginning to hate us in
Colombia – because Ayala won't get five months
and probation, of that you can be sure. The DEA has conducted
its own internal investigation of Ayala's allegations, but
has taken no action against the official named.
A
CASUAL PHRASE
In
all the reporting on this story, one phrase stuck out. According
to Reuters :
"The
U.S. Department of the Army, which led the initial inquiry,
said Tuesday there was an 'ongoing investigation' into the
embassy-based heroin ring, but declined to say whether the
DEA official named by Ayala was under scrutiny."
What
is stunning about this sentence is the casual manner in which
the phrase "embassy-based heroin ring" seems to roll off the
writer's tongue – a phrase fraught with ominous implications
for the entire US effort in Colombia. For clearly this is
just the beginning. In the all-pervasive atmosphere of corruption
that permeates Colombian society like a poisonous fog, all
who come in contact with it are infected. There is simply
too much money to be made. If the top US commander in the
Colombian "drug war" is not immune, then surely the lower
echelons are even more susceptible.
COLOMBIAN
QUICKSAND
As
we sink deeper into this poisonous bog, the infusion of $1.3
billion will give new impetus to the growth of the corruption
process. If and when it comes to US troops on the ground,
the boomerang effects of US intervention will be dramatic
and immediate. US "peacekeepers" living on military pay and
dependent on food stamps back in the States will prove a useful
conduit for drug smugglers. The strange irony of the whole
military effort to eradicate drugs in the region is that the
invasion of Colombia by US will create new links between Colombian
exporters and American markets just as fast as it breaks them.
This is what it means to be stuck in quicksand – once
you fall in, or are pushed, the harder you struggle the faster
you sink.
PARADOX
The
current game plan is that we will let the Colombians fight
their own war, and refrain from putting our own troops in
the field. That is what they said about the Balkans. There
have already been 5 American
casualties in this war: the crew of a reconnaissance plane
shot down by guerrillas. In any case, the real extent of direct
US participation in the anti-guerrilla effort is probably
much more extensive than Washington is willing to admit, and,
the way things are going, the American role can only increase.
The news that the Colombian
army stood by while right-wing paramilitary units massacred
villagers will, paradoxically, have the effect of drawing
us closer into the conflict. The cry will go up for more American
"oversight" – with Americans not only training but commanding
Colombian forces at all levels, and this can only lead to
the swift evolution of American "advisors" into combat soldiers
on the ground. Down the slippery slope we go, and where we
stop nobody wants to know. . . .
THE
WAR PROFITEERS
The
Occidental Oil Company, the source of much of Al Gore's personal
wealth, was a
major lobbyist for "Plan Colombia," but everyone is trying
to get in on the war profits, with Congressman
Ben Gilman's sales job on behalf of Blackhawk helicopters
standing out due to its brazenness. This is a bipartisan
quagmire, brought to you by the Clinton administration in
alliance with a Republican majority in both houses of Congress.
The lobbyists of the War Party have been working overtime
– and with frightening success – to pull off a massive
intervention in the most volatile region of a volcanic continent,
just as they did in the Balkans. We are being sucked into
a quagmire, without opposition or any real debate, and where
are the "major minor" party nominees on this issue? Pat Buchanan
has yet to make a statement. Ralph Nader talks in fuzzy generalities,
never naming names or giving examples of concrete foreign
policy proposals. Time is short. I urge supporters of both
candidates, in the Green Party and Reform, to get on the horn,
or fire off those emails, asking their respective campaigns
to make Colombia and the "drug war" an issue this election
year. It is now, or never.
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