On 17 August, Colombia’s President Iván Duque met with a delegation of US government security officials to launch the ‘Colombia Crece’ initiative, described by US National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien as “a new Plan Colombia”.
Analysis:
Colombia Crece was portrayed by Duque and O’Brien as an economic development strategy first and foremost, linked to the US’s region-wide ‘América Crece’ investment plan. However, the composition of the US delegation, along with O’Brien’s comparison to Plan Colombia (a US foreign aid initiative running from 2000-2015, intended to combat drug trafficking organisations and guerrilla groups in Colombia), suggest that the security and military elements of Colombia Crece will be more significant than was suggested at yesterday’s press conference. This will exacerbate concerns about Duque’s increasingly hard-line security policy, which has been strongly encouraged by his US allies, despite critics suggesting that this militarisation is driving a return to violence and conflict in Colombia.
- As well as O’Brien, the US delegation in Bogotá included Admiral Craig Faller, the head of the US Southern Command (Southcom), and Mauricio Claver-Carone, US President Donald Trump’s nominee to become the first non-Latin American president of the Inter-American Development Bank (a candidacy for which Duque yesterday voiced his support).
- O’Brien emphasised that Colombia Crece would be “focused on rural development, infrastructure expansion, security, and the rule of law”, insisting that the US is committed to working with the Colombian government to support “investment opportunities, sustainable development, and [economic] growth”. Specific details were limited, but O’Brien claimed that some US$5bn will be channelled into Colombia through this scheme in the next three years.
- Duque heralded Colombia Crece as “a model for development co-operation in the 21st century”, celebrating a bilateral relationship built on “democratic values, the market economy, and the transnational fight against drug trafficking”. He further highlighted the scheme’s focus on investment, but followed O’Brien’s lead in comparing it to Plan Colombia, emphasising “the importance of combining security and justice efforts with the arrival of investment”.
Looking Ahead: This announcement suggests that the recent intensification of US military co-operation with Colombia – most notably through the controversial deployment of a US Security Force Assistance Brigade in June – is set to continue, despite the concerns voiced by Colombian civil society.
