This documentary takes a critical look at the strategies and effects of US foreign and economic policy in Latin America, especially in Colombia and Ecuador. Since the introduction of Plan Colombia in 2000, the Andean countries are becoming increasingly militarized, especially the remote communities on the borders of Colombia with Ecuador and Venezuela.
View EMPIRE IN THE ANDES,
THE WAR AGAINST THE POOR Video hosted on Google. The film traces how violence, and environmental degradation caused by fumigation of drug crops, are making people poorer while cocaine and heroin cultivation and trafficking continue unabated. After September 11 2001 the focus of US policy shifted from fighting the 'War on Drugs' to fighting the 'War on Terror'. Still, the heart of the matter is that millions are kept in poverty in the Andean countries, and US-sponsored policies are failing to address the human concerns. In fact they they are driving small farmers and peasants off resource-rich areas, allowing multinationals to control and exploit the land and terrorizing those who resist. There is growing social opposition in the Andes to the implementation of neoliberal policies, although it has barely been covered by the corporate media. Neither military aid or the planned Free Trade Area of the Americas benefit the majority of local people, who are fighting to thrive and to build a lasting peace.
Plan Colombia: Cashing In On the Drug War Failure |
View Plan Colombia Video hosted on Google. Directed by Gerard Ungerman, Plan Colombia: Cashing in on the Drug War Failure documents what many believe to be dangerous hypocrisy on the part of the American government. The film gives particular attention to the reasons behind the drug trade (Colombia is the world's biggest cocaine exporter), which include illegal trade funded by radicals, the corrupt government, and the simple fact that most farmers harvest coca because they can't survive on the profits of legitimate food crops. Ungerman also explores the link to America's notorious School of the Americas in Georgia and how targeted aerial fumigation has destroyed perfectly legal natural resources in the mission to eradicate drug crops. The film concludes that the U.S. military-industrial complex is cashing in on the violence they themselves perpetrate, while doing little to actually stem cocaine production.
Colombia is synonymous with drug trafficking, with the country earning an enormous amount of money every year by shipping its illegal wares to the USA. But the American government has been engaged in a lengthy battle to stop the Colombian drug barons from trading with their country...or have they? Filmmakers Gerard Ungerman and Audrey Brohey take a look at the government's efforts to quash trading with Colombia, and find some surprisingly lax activities taking place. Commentators such as Noam Chomsky and Senator Paul Wellstone are brought into the picture to explain why this might be occurring, with a particular focus on the lucrative oil resources that Colombia houses. A fascinating mixture of facts, figures, and speculation, PLAN COLOMBIA: CASHING IN ON THE DRUG WAR FAILURE offers plenty of shocking revelations as the film unfolds.
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