Obama presents USD450 mn plan to fund Colombia peace

US President Barack Obama has announced a USD 450 million plan to fund Colombia's peace process, shaking up a controversial military aid program that defined relations for 15 years.
Hosting President Juan Manuel Santos at the White House, Obama yesterday said that as the country's 50-year conflict with leftist FARC guerrillas winds down it was time to rethink "Plan Colombia."
"A country that was on the brink of collapse is now on the brink of peace," Obama said, expressing optimism that an agreement can soon be reached.
A March 23 deadline has been set for the peace talks to conclude, designed to bring to an end a conflict which has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced six million.

Over the last decade and a half, Plan Colombia caused billions of dollars' worth of military aid to flow to Colombia's security services, fortifying the state against well-armed and well-funded drug cartels and rebel groups, chief among them the FARC.
Hailed in Washington as a bipartisan success story, Plan Colombia was launched by president Bill Clinton and continued by his Republican successor George W Bush.

But the policy has also been fiercely criticized inside Colombia and by rights groups, who say it made internecine conflict bloodier and left a trail of abuses.
"For many Colombians directly affected by the conflict, Plan Colombia is shorthand for a war without quarter," said Gimena Sanchez of the Washington Office on Latin America, a non-profit group.

Under the newly styled "Peace Colombia," the White House said there would still be cash for the military and counternarcotics, but the focus would also be on demobilizing rebels, mine clearance, humanitarian assistance and funding truth and reconciliation efforts.
"Just as the United States has been Colombia's partner in a time of war," Obama said, "We will be your partner in waging peace."
Once a virtual failed state, Colombia is increasingly seen as a pivotal player in Latin America and one of the region's most dynamic and democratic countries.
"Today's Colombia is much, much different from the Colombia of 15 years ago," said Santos.

"Practically a third of our national territory was controled by paramilitaries. Another third was being controled by the guerrillas, and both were financed by drug trafficking. We had a very dark and uncertain future.
"Today, we see the future with hope.