Resistance to Plan Colombia

Plan Colombia is indeed a threat to the lives of many people in Colombia. It has allowed giant multinational and transnational organizations to decide the fate of the people as they take over their lands and poison their environment forcing them to evacuate and be displaced or die.
Many people did not know of the dangers of Plan Colombia until recent times. That in itself is resistance. It is awareness as resistance. I myself was not aware of this problem until I attended a lecture at WSU featuring a leader of an indigenous group in Colombia. He shared his experience of the harmful impacts of the "plan", he even shared with us how he lost his left eye as a result of an attack from the guerrilla groups who are paid and supplied by multinational corporations in the area. Awareness is also increasing as the "plan" spreads to other Latin American countries such as Ecuador.This is an issue that cannot be taken up by and handled by the people of Colombia alone. It is on a much greater scale and requires awareness from many in order to be overcome. As citizens of this country we can make a difference by voting on alternatives to the current US foreign policies that allow such events to occur with the US funding a portion of Plan Colombia as part of its "war on drugs". We need to make it about humanity and not commodity.
The biggest form of resistance however comes from Cauca, a mountainous province in Colombia. This is also where the lecturer who introduced me to the topic is from. Cauca is mainly populated by indigenous groups of Colombia. They have two regional organizations fighting on behalf of the people, the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca and the Indigenous Authorities of Colombia. These organizations are adamant about providing alternatives of self defense such as the recognition of land rights of the native tribes of the area. There are also a few tribes who use shamanistic means to acquire resistance.

ASHLEY,DEBORAH ODEIBA
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