After a very successful event today, we now have, on WOLA’s YouTube page, four hours of discussions of the current moment with premier experts in civil-military relations from 11 Latin American countries. It’s in two parts: today’s discussion, and an earlier one, with a similar format, hosted in September.
Taken together, they are a tremendous resource for understanding this uneasy, precarious moment in the hemisphere’s politics and democratic transitions (or reversions). Sort of like two focus groups taking the pulse of things, shared with the public.
This is raw video in Spanish, though. Some audiences, like busy policymakers with competing commitments and responsibilities, won’t watch all of it. We need to repackage it, perhaps in a variety of formats. I need to figure out over the holidays how best to do that.
In the meantime, though, here are the event videos, which are really worth your time. In reverse chronological order:
That was a great discussion yesterday. As you could see if you “attended,” our partners in Colombia are very concerned about what might happen if the U.S-funded program of aerial glyphosate fumigation returns to Colombia’s coca-growing zones, as the Bogotá government is promising may happen in two months or less.
I’m pleased that several dozen people tuned in to the live event. Here is the video. There’s no translation track, so you have to be comfortable with Spanish.
We’ll keep making noise about this, because it’s bad policy, it’s going to harm people, and even if it temporarily brings the “hectare” number down, it will do so at great cost to social peace and to Colombia’s peace process.
I tend to host live events only a few times per year, but for some reason I’m doing two this week. The first was an idea raised by colleagues in Colombia, which was too good to pass up. The second was an idea I developed with a colleague in Uruguay, and I’m honored that every single speaker we invited accepted.
One, on Wednesday, will give an on-the-ground update about coca in Colombia. The other will survey people from six countries about the state of civil-military relations nine months into the pandemic.
Wednesday, December 9: Coca and Eradication Four Years into Colombia’s “Post-Accord” Phase
Four years after the signing of a historic peace accord, hundreds of thousands of Colombian families continue to rely on the coca crop. The government, with U.S. support, has already broken its annual record for forced eradication, during the pandemic, and little of it has been coordinated with food security or rural development assistance. Now, a revival of a controversial aerial herbicide fumigation program is looming.
How are coca cultivating communities responding? How does all of this relate to the peace accord? What might happen if fumigation restarts? What are the costs of eradication, both financially and in terms of rights? Will pursuing the same strategies pursued during the past 30 years really yield a different result? What happened with the peace accords’ crop substitution program? What would a better coca policy look like? How should the new U.S. administration adjust its assistance programs?
WOLA, Elementa, CODHES, the Instituto Pensar of the Universidad Javeriana, the Alianza de Mujeres Tejedoras de Vida, and the Corporación Viso Mutop look forward to addressing these topics on Wednesday, December 9, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (U.S. eastern and Bogotá time).
Event Details:
Wednesday, December 9, 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. EST
Featuring:
Moderator:
Simultaneous interpretation will be available.
Friday, December 11 (Spanish only – no budget for interpretation, sorry!): Las relaciones cívico-militares en América Latina después de nueve meses de pandemia
La Oficina en Washington para Asuntos Latinoamericanos (WOLA) cordialmente le invita a un webinario:Aún antes del inicio de la pandemia COVID-19, muchos analistas políticos en América Latina se estaban preocupando por el crecimiento de los papeles internos, y de la influencia política, de las fuerzas armadas de la región. Estos han llegado, en muchos países, a niveles no vistos desde las dictaduras de la época de la Guerra Fría.
Ahora, en gran parte de la región, la pandemia está cambiando las relaciones cívico-militares de manera tan rápida que es difícil monitorear la situación. Las fuerzas armadas siempre son obligadas a participar en el entorno civil en momentos de desastres naturales, pero el COVID-19 es un desastre que afecta cada rincón de los territorios nacionales, sin fecha límite aparente.
WOLA auspiciará una discusión necesaria de los últimos cambios de las relaciones cívico-militares regionales. Escucharemos presentaciones breves de expertos sobre seis países, seguidas por una discusión abierta.
Detalles del evento:
Viernes, 11 de diciembre de 2020, 12:00 p.m – 2:00 p.m. Hora Este de los Estados Unidos (EST – Washington DC, UTC−05:00)
Este webinario se transmitirá en la página de YouTube de WOLA.
Panelistas:
Introducción:
La discusión se hará en español.
Colombia has broken its annual record for forced manual coca eradication, and renewed aerial herbicide fumigation looms in 2021.
We’ll be discussing this with some longtime colleagues in Colombia a week from Wednesday: December 9, at 1:30 Eastern. Here’s the text of the event announcement, where you can RSVP. Please share.
(And also — on Friday December 11 I’m putting together a new discussion of COVID-era civil-military relations, covering six countries. Mark your calendar and join for both events if you’re able.)
Four years after the signing of a historic peace accord, hundreds of thousands of Colombian families continue to rely on the coca crop. The government, with U.S. support, has already broken its annual record for forced eradication, during the pandemic, and little of it has been coordinated with food security or rural development assistance. Now, a revival of a controversial aerial herbicide fumigation program is looming.
How are coca cultivating communities responding? How does all of this relate to the peace accord? What might happen if fumigation restarts? What are the costs of eradication, both financially and in terms of rights? Will pursuing the same strategies pursued during the past 30 years really yield a different result? What happened with the peace accords’ crop substitution program? What would a better coca policy look like? How should the new U.S. administration adjust its assistance programs?
WOLA, Elementa, CODHES, the Instituto Pensar of the Universidad Javeriana, the Alianza de Mujeres Tejedoras de Vida, and the Corporación Viso Mutop look forward to addressing these topics on Wednesday, December 9, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (U.S. eastern and Bogotá time).
Event Details:
Wednesday, December 9
1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. EST
Featuring:
Moderator:
Simultaneous interpretation will be available.
I continue to be very concerned about what COVID-19 is going to mean for the role of militaries in Latin America’s democracies, many of which were already having a hard time consolidating.
We had an event about this in September with experts from five countries, with our friend Claudio Alonso, an Uruguayan defense expert, moderating. (English highlights video here.)
Camilo will be back with us on December 11 at 12:00 noon Eastern for another round of conversations, this time with experts from six different countries. Please join us. The event will be in Spanish. Here’s the “save the date” information from WOLA’s site:
La Oficina en Washington para Asuntos Latinoamericanos (WOLA) cordialmente le invita a un webinario:
WOLA auspiciará una discusión necesaria de los últimos cambios de las relaciones cívico-militares regionales. Escucharemos presentaciones breves de expertos sobre cinco países, seguidas por una discusión abierta.
Detalles del evento:
Viernes, 11 de diciembre de 2020
12:00 p.m – 2:00 p.m.
Hora Este de los Estados Unidos
(EST – Washington DC, UTC−05:00)
Este webinario se transmitirá en la página de YouTube de WOLA.
Panelistas:
Moderador:
Claudio Alonso
Exdirector general de política de defensa
Ministerio de la Defensa Nacional de Uruguay
Introducción:
Adam Isacson
Director del programa de veeduría de defensa en WOLA
La discusión se hará en español.
(Not a lot this week. U.S. elections are a bit of a distraction.)
