Colombia by the numbers
From Drug War Rant:
Plan Colombia By The Numbers
Adam Isaacson’s got the data:
Total U.S. aid to Colombia over the seven years between 2000 and 2006: $4.72 billion
Square miles of Colombia sprayed with “Round-Up Ultra†herbicide, 2000-2005: 2,550
Land area of Delaware, square miles: 1,954
Square miles planted in Colombia with coca, the plant used to make cocaine, in 2000, the year Plan Colombia began: 526
Approximate cost of fumigating one square mile, conservative estimate: $162,000
Reduction in Colombian coca-growing from 2003 to 2004, in acres: 0
Percentage of coca plots detected by the United Nations in 2004 that did not exist the year before: 62
Amount per month, according to the United Nations, that a Colombian farmer nets from a hectare (2.5 acres) of coca: $199
Percentage of Colombia’s rural population living below the poverty line: 82
“Arbitrary arrests†documented by Colombian human-rights groups between August 2002 and August 2004: 6,332
Percentage of murders in Colombia that end in a sentencing: 4%
Colombians forcibly displaced from their homes by violence, January 2000-September 2005: 1.8 million
I know I am thrilled and filled with faith.