Federico Pinzón Arana
The United States implements security and defense strategies against terrorism and drug trafficking in various parts of the world, with special emphasis on countries located in Latin America, its sphere of influence.
From the George W. Bush administration (2001-2009) to the “Trump era”, US leaders have identified Colombia as an essential focus of drug terrorism. For this reason, they have signed agreements and implemented a series of strategies with the Colombian government. On May 28, 2020, the United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) deployed its forces in Colombia, with the aim of contributing to the fight against drug trafficking in the frame of a technical military cooperation between both nations.
Such a strategy focuses on fostering military ties to serve as American support for Colombia in its fight against Organized Armed Groups that drive their criminal activities through the planting of illicit crops.
Among the main objectives of the Americans there are the reinforcement of the technical spaces, where the Colombian authorities lack in military and technological means, and the strengthening of the military presence in departments severely affected by the armed conflict such as Arauca, Bajo Cauca, Córdoba, Norte de Santander and Nariño.
In the same way, the commander of the Colombian Armed Forces, Luis Fernando Navarro, claims that the US military will remain in Colombia until September (2020) to improve and strengthen joint operations against drug trafficking.
Academics and strategists on national security issues affirm that the US presence obeys a policy of “anti-drug security” that has been promoted in Colombia since the implementation of Plan Colombia (PC), a bilateral agreement, that has been signed between the governments of Colombia and United States in 1999, during the administrations of the Colombian President Andrés Pastrana and the United States President Bill Clinton. The agreement covers three specific objectives: generate a social and economic revitalization, end the armed conflict in Colombia and create an anti-narcotics strategy.
The program also promoted the modernization of 300 military installations in Colombia along with a financial aid of $ 100 million to safeguard the least developed military sectors and services. Likewise, within the framework of Plan Colombia, the Americans managed to settle in seven bases deployed throughout the Colombian territory, carrying out multiple intelligence missions, sabotage and espionage against the main armed groups (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -FARC-EP – and the National Liberation Army –ELN-)
However, despite the proclaimed good intentions of the Americans in Colombia, there are many Latin American leaders who do not consider the US military presence convenient, since for years the Americans have been in deep friction with some regional leaders.
In the Latin American geopolitical sphere, the presence of North Americans in Colombia has generated great concern for certain leaders and increased the friction between Venezuela and Colombia. Venezuelans interpret that with the Americans in South America some kind of operation is planned from Colombia against Nicolás Maduro and other members of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.
Likewise, with the support of his advisers, Donald Trump, has claimed that Nicolás Maduro maintains strong links with Colombian organized armed groups, and this is the reason why the Venezuelan president has become a crucial political objective for Americans.
In fact, various think tanks, journalistic teams and other media for months affirm that the Americans are planning a series of military operations against the N. Maduro regime.
Additionally, today Venezuela is understood as an important “focus” in international politics in Latin America and the Caribbean, since the socioeconomic problems in Venezuela have generated large migratory waves (more than 4 million migrants) which affects directly the security of the countries adjacent to Venezuela (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, etc.), especially damaging transcendental geopolitical assets such as borders and cities closest to the limits (InSight Crime, 2020).
In the geopolitical case of Venezuela, there is no doubt that the United States’ presence in a country immediately close to it, like Colombia,represents a pressure (or a high risk) from the political-military point of view. On the other hand, when deploying the troops, the North American leaders did not mention that their soldiers would have some plan to face the migratory phenomena.
Although the Americans are in border departments such as Arauca, Nariño and Norte de Santander, they do not have the objective of solving the Colombia problems of migratory security. However, the alliance between the United States and Colombian forces can intercept criminal groups that operate in both Colombia and Venezuela, which are in charge of illegal mining, human trafficking, drug trafficking, and other crimes.
According to the Colombian Minister of Defense, Carlos H. Trujillo; “The ELN would be entering gold illegally mined in the states of Bolívar, Apura and Amazonas in Venezuela. And it relies on those resources to finance its violent actions in Colombia ”(Redmas, 2020). On the other hand, moving away from the context that surrounds Colombia and Venezuela, another actor affected by the US presence would be Nicaragua, since for years Colombia has had serious political friction with this Central American country due to diplomatic discussions over the waters, and the land that comprise the archipelago of San Andrés and Providencia in the Caribbean, which belongs to Colombia but is geographically closer to Nicaragua.
Likewise, Nicaragua is a political and military ally of both Cuba and Venezuela (and Russia), which is why Nicaragua also represents a focus of political enmity for the United States. However, although today the political and military frictions between Nicaragua and Colombia remain on a third plane, it is valid to mention that Colombia could make use of its military proximity to the United States to build a dissuasive strategy against Nicaragua.
Finally, it is necessary to clarify that the true geopolitical victims with the presence of US troops in Colombia may be not the States, but they could be non-state agents and / or organized armed groups that use Colombia as a base or key point in their narcotics supply and production route.
It is clear that the North American presence generates a high degree of pressure in certain governments (such as the Venezuelan one), but the main affected are the organizations that carry out criminal activities of a transnational nature, since Colombia plays a role of “bridge” between the Latin American countries, turning it into a geostrategic point to connect criminal nodes that are in charge of transporting merchandise and “moving” money from illicit activities.
It is expected that in the short and medium term, the Colombian authorities will show positive results in terms of security, however, several analysts conclude that 4 months is a very short period to deal blows of regional proportions to drug trafficking.
Author: Federico Pinzón Arana (Professional in International Relations and Foreign Affairs of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Bogota and Master in National Security and Defense of the National Army of Colombia. With experience in research on issues of security, defense, foreign policy and contemporary armed conflicts at the Colombian Army Superior War College and at the Organized Crime Studies Foundation, InSight Crime).
(The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy or views of World Geostrategic Insights).