USAID pulls out of Colombia's south

by JOHN OTIS, South America Bureau
BOGOTA, COLOMBIA

Officials say rebel strongholds too dangerous but some call it choice of force over help

Although the southern jungles of Colombia are ground zero for the war against Marxist guerrillas and cocaine traffickers, a U.S.-backed program to persuade some of the region's drug farmers to switch to legal crops has been suspended.

In southern Caqueta state, a longtime rebel stronghold, the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, has pulled out of the campaign because the region lacked economic potential and was considered too dangerous for the agency's workers, according to a Colombian government memo.

The program, jointly administered by the U.S. and Colombia, was one of several alternative-development projects to wean peasant farmers from drug crops and steer them into legal livelihoods ranging from fish-farming to pineapple-growing.

Between now and 2008, nearly all of the State Department agency's $70 million annual budget for alternative development in Colombia will be channeled to more secure areas where the programs have a better shot at success.