You probably remember where you were on September 11, 2001. But you may not know how those attacks, thousands of miles from New York and Washington, ended up reshaping Colombia’s own conflict. Before that day, US assistance to Colombia focused mainly on fighting drug trafficking. Plan Colombia, approved just a year earlier, had opened the door to greater military involvement, but with strict limits meant to keep Washington from being drawn into a full counterinsurgency war.
That changed almost overnight. Within months, the fight against drugs and guerrilla groups merged into a single concept: narcoterrorism. By August 2002, the US Congress had given the State Department and Pentagon broader authority to use aid against armed groups like the FARC, not just narcotics traffickers, deepening military training and intelligence-sharing to unprecedented levels.
Now, a quarter-century later, Colombia faces a very different landscape—yet the relationship with Washington seems to be circling back to familiar territory. President Donald Trump’s administration recently announced a $1 billion aid package for President Abelardo De La Espriella’s government, aimed at security, drug trafficking, organized crime, and reclaiming territory from armed groups. Washington has called it the start of a “new era,” one that echoes, unmistakably, the original Plan Colombia.
Want the full story, including firsthand recollections from a former Colombian ambassador who witnessed the attacks unfold? Read the original report at El Tiempo.
Source: Cómo el 11-S transformó el Plan Colombia y por qué Trump y De La Espriella parecen revivirlo 25 años después (eltiempo.com). English version produced with AI assistance.
Image: 666isMONEY ☮ ♥ & ☠, BY-SA 2.0 (via Openverse).