Site Meter Radical Avenue » Blog Archive » Colombia Deserves a Better Deal

Colombia Deserves a Better Deal

by Bob Betzen

Barranquilla__Colombia_1.JPGThe US State Department estimates that Colombia ranks second only to Sudan in the number of internally displaced refugees. Up to 3.8 million Colombians live in exile, more than 5% of the population. Our country fuels this humanitarian crisis with $500 million in annual military aid, which is used in a drug war pitting the Colombian military against cocaine distributors and their militias. In the meantime Washington haggles over free trade agreements. Talk about misplaced priorities. A free trade agreement won’t help the Colombian refugee community anytime soon.

Does the conflict in Colombia really matter to the US? Well, the Colombian government recently seized 66 pounds of uranium from that nation’s largest rebel group, something the US government considers “disturbing”. Indeed.

Radioactive material in the hands of our enemy is never good news, and they’re probably not using it for clean energy production. The situation is just another example of a dangerously inept US foreign policy. The United States should fix its counterproductive relationship with Colombia.

Better Avenues for Investment
Here are some alternative ways to spend $500 million a year:
1) Humanitarian aid in the form of food, shelter, medicine and other necessities for displaced Colombians.
2) Research into the medicinal benefits of the cocoa plant, which has powerful analgesic qualities but which is also highly addictive.
3) Treatment for drugs addicts, so that they can get back to living productive lives.
4) Education programs to warn kids about the dangers of drug abuse.
5) Schools in remote Colombian villages, where education serves as a socio-economic equalizer, thereby giving poor communities leverage against dangerous local militias.

Treat the Illness
If every ounce of cocaine on the planet vanished overnight, thousands of cocaine addicts would still wake up in the morning needing a fix. Removing the drug doesn’t cure the addiction. Without remedial intervention, addicts will just move on to some other intoxicating substance.

Some people are more susceptible to addiction than others. Effective drug prevention programs help at risk kids before they ever get hooked. Plenty of recovered addicts have conquered their demons with a bit of intestinal fortitude and help from professionals. We can lessen the problem of drug addiction in America through a more therapeutic, less punitive approach.

The Bloody Black Market
During the days of Prohibition, alcohol production and consumption went underground. The ensuing gangster violence in Chicago and New York shocked the nation to such an extent that prohibition was repealed. Now cocktail parties are back in fashion. But drug and alcohol abuse still plagues America. In the modern era however, we’ve exported the intimidation and assassinations to places like Medellin and Cali. That’s why we need a fundamentally different arrangement with our Latin American friends.

, , ,


Leave a Reply


About Radical Avenue

If you want to find criticism of our government here in America, you won’t need to look far. When it comes to politics, it seems that everyone has a grievance. Radical Avenue on the other hand, takes a solutions oriented approach to public policy. It’s radical because I’m proposing fundamental changes to the structure of our government, like transferring commander in chief responsibilities to a small elected group. My philosophy is: Everyone knows we’ve got problems, so what are we going to do about it?

Radical Avenue Author(s)
    » Bob-Betzen

Blogging Flair

Politics & News Channel Posts

  • One More Silver Dollar
    If you can read this you're too close ... and legally blind Government officials announced today that the U.S. Mint will soon produce a new silver dollar commemorating the birth of Louis Braille [...]
  • Democracy No Panacea
    American politicians like to promote democracy as a polished gemstone behind a plate glass window at the jewelry store, rather than as a diamond in the rough still encrusted in stone. A country's [...]
  • George Carlin Dies
    - Fuck. - George Carlin, 1937-2008 - [...]
  • Diplomatic Circles
    Even the dark cloud over US foreign policy left behind by the Bush administration has a silver lining. Other countries now know that they can't count on America for political leadership, so they've [...]
  • I, Love Robot
    Sexy...in a Power Rangers kind of way... Not content with dominating the world auto market, the Japanese robotic industry is now working to make American women smaller, quieter and more fuel [...]
  • Gloomy Guantanamo Bay
    King Henry VIII had the Tower of London. Nikita Khrushchev had the Gulags of Siberia. Guantanamo Bay seems to be George Bush's barbaric detention center of choice. During previous conflicts, [...]
  • Fans Call Foul on the NBA
    The National Basketball Association has a credibility problem. At some point in the last twenty years, the NBA morphed into a launching pad for young athletes building a following through ESPN [...]
  • Got Gas?
    Photo: news.nationalgeographic.com I have been getting several responses to my previous blog on Exxon tax payments in which I said “we do not tax their absurd profits.” I was not being [...]
  • Bob Hope Knows Democrats
    Bob has them dead to rights... Hard to believe they have actually gotten worse since Hope delivered this quip. [...]
  • We give tax breaks to oil companies, but not renewable energy companies
    Yesterday Senate Republicans blocked the vote of a bill that would tax the windfall profits of oil companies as well as end their tax breaks. The Republicans said that we need to focus on more [...]

Hot Off The Press

  • Find Wii Fit for Sale Online
    Are you like me and have been desperately trying to find Wii Fit in stock? Sure, you could pay twice as much as retail and buy it on eBay or Amazon. That option just isn't very appealing and [...]
  • Weekly Forecast: View To A Kill
    (Hint: Play song and read at the same time!) Mystery, intrigue and dances in the fire, or a least a little snarkiness, are the keynotes of this dramatic week as the planet of secrets, Pluto, [...]
  • Some Summer Music Pics from Five Magazine
    That's this SUNDAY in TAOS....go camping too. Brave Combo Nearly thirty years ago, someone classifi ed Denton, Texas’ Brave Combo as a new wave polka band, which they are. Th ey even won [...]
  • News from Five Magazine
    At last! Let's see how far I get. www.readfive.comThis summer in Taos Joan Armitrading will perform. Here an interview by Bill Nevins with Joan A. “Under the surface there was always a [...]
  • Not food history
    This week I'm trying some experiments with heart and goat mince. Not together, you understand. And also not historical. The 'not historical' in important. Too often people tell me that they [...]
  • Love Question Nine
    Woo hoo! I’m glad to be back and doing the Love Questions meme from Short Sweet Love Poems. I do enjoy the questions and reading the thoughts of others. This week we have a very interesting, [...]
  • Rihanna’s fashion totally confuses me
    It would probably take us into a nervous breakdown if we would see our favorite stars in their not-so-good looks. But then again, since I’m not a fan of Rihanna, I don’t exactly know what to [...]
  • Summer Iowa Games, through 6 p.m....
    Through 6 p.m.free (888) 777-8881 [...]
  • Fruits of the Spirit: Be kind to each other
    But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 Kindness is [...]
  • Idol Teachers
    I just watched a video clip. It was from the pilot episode of a potential new sitcom called Teachers. The pilot seems to revolve around the life of a young, fresh-faced teacher named Tim Donnely, [...]