Plan Colombia is working

In his Aug. 5 Times Op-Ed article, “U.S. needs to reevaluate Plan Colombia,” Milburn Line raises some important issues about the U.S.-Colombia alliance. Unfortunately, in questioning the progress Colombia has made under former President Alvaro Uribe in fighting insurgencies and curtailing the drug trade, Line presents an uninformed point of view.

That Colombia has undergone an impressive transformation over the past decade is inarguable. The dramatic reduction in violence — with homicides having dropped by 45% between 2002 and 2009 — has yielded crime rates throughout our nation that are lower than those in many U.S. cities. These results, along with improved economic and social conditions, have changed the face of the country. Colombia boasts an education system that now sees 92% of students finish middle school, and a healthcare care system that covers more than 80% of our citizens. This turnaround has led to a three-fold increase in the number of tourists who visit Colombia and a strong return of foreign investment, currently standing at more than $10 billion a year.

Over the last nine years, Colombia has seen a 58% drop in the amount of land used to cultivate drugs. Our efforts have been focused on law enforcement, eradication and developing alternative crops for rural farmers. Ending the scourge of drugs has been a top priority for the Colombian government, but it can neither be accomplished in a few short years nor without the continued support of the United States through Plan Colombia.

Line’s call for the Obama administration to support a “peace process” between the government and insurgencies doesn’t acknowledge the numerous peace negotiations different Colombian administrations have undertaken over the last four decades, the most recent of which occurred between 1999 and 2002. It also overlooks one of the central elements of Uribe’s policy, which is to welcome whoever wishes to lay down his weapons and reintegrate into civilian life — just as more than 50,000 men and women have already done.

Colombia’s struggle is not over, but no one can deny that tremendous progress has been made over the last eight years to restore stability, security and economic opportunity for our people and for the region as a whole. As we celebrate the inauguration of our new president, Juan Manuel Santos, we are confident that our path to progress will continue.

Carolina Barco is Colombia’s ambassador to the United States.