Putumayo, the human face of chemical war in Colombia

international | miscellaneous | opinion/analysis Saturday December 10, 2005 15:03 by maria golpe merichinita at yahoo dot es apt 4, 144 capel st, dublin 2 0871327013

Thirty thousand colombian asylum seekers wait to be accepted into Ecuador. Some of them come from the region of Putumayo, south of Colombia. This is the most affected area by the indiscriminate spraying of crops from the air that US companies, in association with the Uribe Administration, have been carrying out since december 1999 in order to eliminate coca plantations. Or so they say.
Since the beginning of this “War on drugs” instigated by the Plan Colombia, food crops have been totally devastated, animals are killed by the millions in the area, people suffer from skin and gastric disorders, and some doctors talk of the high risk of getting cancer, suffering miscarriages, genetic mutations…these people from south Colombia are exposed to, due to the spraying of their lands that breaks all sorts of environmental and human rights laws. But, what’s happening in Putumayo? And why?

Written by Irish journalist Hugh O’Shaugnessy and British journalist Sue Branford, published by the London based Latin American Bureau, Fumigation: the human and environmental costs of chemical warfare in Colombia tackles the vicious circle of war, drugs and economic interests in Colombia, giving the fumigation a human face, those of the peoples of Putumayo.
Sue Branford and colombian human rights worker in the area Amanda Romero came to Dublin invited by LASC and the Trinity One World Society to launch the book and tell the Irish public what is really going on.



25.000 people are killed in Colombia every year, 4.500 for political reasons. Since the Spaniards arrived in the 15th century, few latin american countries have enjoyed political stability or democracy, Colombia among them.
With the highest murder rate in the world, not everybody knows there’s an ongoing and long running war in the country named after Chistopher Columbus. Left wing guerrillas, such as FARC and ELN, aiming to lead the country to a proper self-ruled indepence; radical right wing paramilitaries, and the army, fighting for an establishment featuring a wealthy elite that follows direct instructions from Washington. These are the actors. The battlefield and the victims are always the same: civilians. Peasants, women, men, children trapped in one of the richest lands in the world. Some might think the reason is just politics. Some might think the only thing that could be behind the nonsense is the same as everywhere else: money.

The kankuamo indigenous people that came from north Colombia to the Latin America Week in Dublin last spring said the problem in their country hasn’t been political for a while, it’s economic, “about clearing resource rich areas of indigenous people or peasants” in order to feed the government market trade with the States. It looks like the “War on Drugs” initiated by the US and the Colombian government might be hiding the very same reasons for fumigating the richest areas in Colombia, which don’t really correspond with the most active regions in coca growing and traficking. “It has a strong element of that” says Sue Branford, who has been covering Latin America for British media such as the BBC and The Guardian for few decades, “clearing the land of uncomfortable left wing liberation movements like the guerrillas and also locals is necessary to prepare the country for the arrival of US oil companies”. She and Amanda remind us of what not many people know; that Colombia supplied the 3% of US oil in 2001 but it also has important natural gas and oil reserves, that could be useful for their rich neighbour of the north, if we think that the main supplier of oil for the States after the Middle East countries is Venezuela, and US-Venezuela relations don’t seem to be at their best. “They want to set up a conflict and incorporate Colombia into the US empire”, reckons Sue Branford, who also points out the need of a Colombian alliance, a key element for neutralising Venezuela, the States’ “big headache”, and the two countries are neighbours.
This “clearing” strategy seems to be behind the spraying of the Colombian countryside. It was sold as the ultimate “war on drugs”, to get cocaine out of the western countries’ streets, when it first started. But since the events of 911 in New York and the new legitimate battle of Governments against anybody accused of being a terrorist, the Colombian-USA plan became a “war on terror” also in Colombia. Their real objective then became openly accepted by western societies: getting rid of uncomfortable opposition, mainly left wing liberation movements but also peasants and indigenous people who inhabit the most desirable lands in the country.

But, who is protesting? Branford admits “it’s very difficult in Colombia to organise people” even though “there are lots of protests (…) they are risking their lives, being accused of supporting FARC or opposing the States (…) there’s a systematic violation of human rights and still there’s a few courageous people in Colombia”. Amanda agrees and says that “there’s a constant paramilitary activity in the area that stops people from protesting”. Demonstrators “received threats” because, according to the Government, “they are protecting those who cultivate coca”. Everybody grows coca in Colombia, but the main processers of coca leaves and the traffickers are, paradoxically, the paramilitary groups, usually backed by the government, not the peasants.
Amanda, who works with women in the Putumayo area says “they have been very active; in 2003 there was a massive demonstration. 3000 women travelled down to the province of Putumayo and demonstrated against fumigation. They carry the worst of the war. Putumayo women are particularly affected, their health, but also Ecuadeorean women.”. The only research on DNA damage on women affected directly by fumigation has actually been carried out by people from the other side of the border, from Ecuador. Sue points out that Ecuadorean administration has also begun taking legal proceedings against Colombia’s government because they are being affected by the pesticides. The World Health Organisation hasn’t shown any serious support for the case yet and the only “scientific” research on the effects of fumigation in Colombia have actually been linked to the company that manufactures the spray and lacks real fieldwork.
Locals feel these studies are not adequate, they require “on the ground investigation” even though “we don’t need any proof”, according to Amanda Romero,”we know the effects, we just need people to open their eyes”. She’s “very thankfull to the authors for having written this book. We’d like people to understand part of the war has to do with the fumigations. This is a chemical war. The economic side has to be with destruction of the peasants”. When Amanda Romero arrived in Putumayo to work with the women she couldn’t believe her eyes. “It was very sad, but it was more sad when I knew fumigation was killing also children”.

For Amanda, the launching of this book about the human face of chemical war in Colombia, about what’s happening in Putumayo, in Europe (Belfast, Dublin and London so far) is promising. Even though it is difficult to reach enough media publicity to sort out the problem in Putumayo, the welcome is warmer here than in the States and people seem to be a bit more concerned. “Nobody listens to us in Washington DC” but Amanda also points out that, at the same time, “there’s been a step backwards in Europe’s politics with Colombia”. Europe has been involved in the war without considering breaches of humanitarian law, becoming accomplices of Uribe policies “It’s very sad to see European countries trying to give more support towards demobilisation of paramilitaries instead of supporting human rights and victims (…) They tend to identify abusers with the left wing guerrillas” wich is not accurate.
The reality is that war, liberation movements, right wing death squads, drug traficking, corruption and multinational economic interests have given Colombia a million facets making up hbone of the most complicated conflicts in South America.
The truth is not that simple.
Fumigation: the human and environmental costs of chemical warfare in Colombia will hopefully help you untangle it.