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Ex-fighters may become farmers

Rebels and paramilitary fighters who have laid down their arms in Colombia could soon be slaughtering hogs and cultivating blueberries if a proposal by members of the US Congress succeeds.

The US proposal, outlined in letters obtained Wednesday by reporters, has been embraced by Colombia's president as a "significant and critical initiative."

More than 5,000 Marxist rebels and their right-wing paramilitary foes have disarmed since President Alvaro Uribe took office two years ago. The president launched a military offensive that has pushed Colombia's outlawed groups deep into the jungles and mountains of this Andean nation.

Fearing that the former fighters will be sucked back into the conflict or enter Colombia's cocaine and heroin-producing business, Republican Representative Henry Hyde of Illinois, and eight other lawmakers have urged Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and the head of the US Agency for International Development to help create jobs for them and other Colombians.

So far, most of the US$3.3 billion in aid Washington has given Colombia since 2000 has been military assistance. Now, because of the success of military operations by Colombian troops, the lawmakers say jobs must be provided to consolidate these victories.

"Colombia ... remains a top national security priority," the US lawmakers said in almost identical Sept. 22 letters to Veneman and USAID administrator Andrew Natsios. "Today, as we build on our record of success and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe brings the rule of law to previously uncontrolled areas of Colombia, we are reaching a critical turning point."

Uribe told Hyde in a letter Tuesday that he is enthusiastic about the plan and that it is important to promote job creation as the US and Colombia establish a free-trade agreement.

"Both of our countries must ensure, as we deepen our trade and investment relationship, that we do not undermine the significant gains in security and rural employment," Uribe wrote.

While some alternative development projects have been launched in Colombia with US aid, the new proposals, which would cost more than US$3.5 million, are aimed at demobilized fighters and Colombians who have fled their homes because of the war. Some of the initiatives include swine fever eradication effort. "This effort would not only be consistent with long-term US agricultural policy dedicated to eliminating animal diseases posing a threat to US livestock, but it would also create a significant number of manual jobs in Colombia," the letters said.

Promoting the exportation of uchuvas, an orange-colored sour fruit, "thus allowing a larger volume of exports of this small fruit and creating jobs in key areas of Colombia ... where the demobilized can be used to pick the fruit and gain legal employment."
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