Ambassadors Roundtable Series- Colombia Event Summary

The George Washington University’s Homeland Security Policy Institute (HSPI) hosted Carolina Barco Isakson, Ambassador to the United States from Colombia, on July 12 to discuss Colombia’s experience on the counternarcotics front.  “We spend most of our time looking at what’s wrong in the world,” said roundtable host Frank Cilluffo, director of HSPI, but “it’s important to identify some best practices successes in the world, and though Plan Colombia isn’t assured of success in the end, it has seen some great successes thus far.”

Colombia, a country of 43 million people, is known as “the cornerstone of South America.”  Roughly the size of Texas and California combined, its vast uninhabited spaces and three mountain ranges make an attractive setting for the illegal narcotics trade in cocaine and heroin.  Armed groups, including both left-wing guerillas and right-wing paramilitaries, are inextricably linked to the drug trade and remain a major threat to Colombia and the region.  Ambassador Isakson emphasized that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the largest and best-known Colombian guerilla group, has changed in character over time – “we still need to convince certain groups and countries [the FARC is] not the ‘Robin Hood’ group anymore, but now focuses on drugs, exerting…power to carry out terrorist activities.”  Evidence of cooperation with other terrorist organizations has also surfaced.  For example, members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Spain’s Basque group known as ETA have been caught operating in Colombia.  While the operational connection is murky, the communications link is clear.

In 1999, Plan Colombia was introduced to end armed conflict within Colombia’s borders, eliminate drug trafficking, and promote economic and social development.  Within five years of implementation, Colombians saw a 40 percent decrease in cultivation of drugs and over 40,000 guerillas and militants demobilized. In 2007, President Uribe announced revisions to the Plan.  Second stage measures focus on bolstering the justice system, better integrating eradication of drug crops with alternative crop development programs, and strengthening democracy.  Through these efforts, the government aims to maintain a presence on the ground, and implement social benefits programs in remote regions of the country. 

Colombia’s approach to counternarcotics and counterterrorism encompasses regional and international cooperation.  To this end, Ambassador Isakson highlighted the need to “share information as governments,” and noted that Colombia benefits from good cooperation with both Interpol and Europol.  Closer to home, the Colombian and Peruvian militaries cooperate to control their shared border.  By further way of illustration, Panama receives Colombian assistance to increase the numbers of anti-narcotics police stations; and Brazil and Venezuela are part of efforts to bolster information sharing in the region.  Colombia has also been generous in sharing its counternarcotics expertise with the government of Afghanistan.  Analogies between the two countries should not be taken too far, however, as Colombia is a longstanding democracy with a strong institutional framework that has developed over time. 

Despite the complexity of the challenges at hand, Ambassador Isakson maintains a positive and resilient outlook:  “the solution is not perfect, let’s see how we can make it different – let’s not give up; the drug traffickers will not.”


The Ambassador Roundtable Series on International Collaboration to Combat Terrorism and Insurgencies is cosponsored by HSPI and the Inter-University Center for Terrorism Studies. The series is an effort to engage ambassadors, heads of state and cabinet level officials in an ongoing dialogue on the counterterrorism efforts around the world.

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