Both the United States and Colombia have expressed the desire for the two nations to develop a “true partnership.” They say the relationship will become more than just a fight against drugs and terrorism through Plan Colombia. They say the two nations will work together to promote action on the environment, scientific knowledge transfer, and increased support for social projects. The 2011 Fiscal Year foreign aid budget, however, suggests something else.
The U.S. Foreign Aid budget for Colombia for the fiscal year of 2011 is $464 million, a figure down $56 million from last year. The decrease supposedly marks a shift from heavily military-based aid to a plan including more social aid, rhetoric that has been repeated by the U.S. but the concrete effects of which remain to be seen. The U.S. says the country wants to direct more energy towards social support, but examination of the 2011 budget shows otherwise. All of the budget areas where Colombia is specifically mentioned refer to narcotics enforcement, terrorism, or military training.
This is not to say that Colombia does not need more capable justice system actors and a strengthening of the justice system as a whole, and support for displaced, vulnerable, and at-risk populations. It most certainly does. However, it is considerably more likely that the money will be directed more towards the anti-terrorism efforts than the world’s second largest internally displaced population. (The budget, through money appropriated for Migration and Refugee Assistance, does support internally displaced persons and conflict victims. The aid is not broken down by country in this section, and shows $37 million to be shared among the Western Hemisphere.)
Colombia will receive $51.5 million in Foreign Military Financing, which “
Colombia is noticeably absent from other sections in the foreign aid budget where figures are broken down by country. Colombia is not listed as getting any part of the $2,980.9 million appropriated for Development Assistance, funds which are used to “support the efforts of host governments and their private sector and non-governmental partners to implement the systemic political and economic changes needed for sustainable development progress.” The 2011 funds will be directed towards education, economic growth,
and democracy and governance.
Colombia was also left off the list of recipients of Global Health and Child Survival funds, which aim to arrive at its goals by “encouraging country ownership and investing in country-led plans; building sustainability through investments in health systems strengthening improving metrics, monitoring, and evaluation; and promoting research, development, and innovation,” among other things.
Scientific research and innovation are, however, one of the three areas the U.S. pledged to focus on with Colombia during a visit from U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg to Bogota in October. The two countires will also seek to advance their relationship on human rights and democratic governance, and energy cooperation, topics that were selected during the High Level Partnership Dialogue between the U.S. and Colombia. During the visit, Steinberg said, “During the last decade, our governments have cooperated to stem the flow of illegal drugs, combat terrorism, promote trade and economic development, and improve respect for human rights. The expansion of this cooperation is a remarkable story, as is Colombia’s own success in overcoming internal security threats and shaping itself into a model of democratic development.”
He went on, “That success does not diminish the importance of our partnership; if anything, it makes Colombia an ever-more vital strategic partner for the United States. And in the very productive meeting I just completed with President [Juan Manuel] Santos and Foreign Minister [Maria Angela] Holguin, we discussed how we can broaden and deepen this partnership going forward.”
Colombian President Santos met with U.S. President Barack Obama at a United Nations meeting in September, after which he said, “Now that the problem of security is more or less resolved, we can promote a more progressive agenda. Social development, the prosperity of our people, climate change and the environment are themes that we can now include in our agenda.”
In a speech on October 21, U.S. ambassador to Colombia Michael McKinley said, “This relationship is evolving beyond drug trafficking, security, and the free trade agreement. It must be a relationship of partners, mature, and based on the priorities of the country and of the new government.”
The desires of Santos nor the claims of the U.S. diplomats do not line up with the money appropriated for Colombia. It is clear that the two countries will not “broaden or deepen” their “partnership” when all U.S. foreign aid funding for Colombia will be given to the military and anti-drug opperations.