Tomorrow: "A Cautionary Tale: Plan Colombia's Lessons for Mexico and Beyond"
First, apologies for our silence, on the blog and elsewhere. Abigail, WOLA's Anthony Dest and I spent the past 8 days in Colombia researching U.S.-supported "consolidation" programs, particularly in the northern part of the country. Second, tomorrow morning we will be posting to the website "A Cautionary Tale: Plan Colombia's Lessons for Mexico and Beyond," a big new report by LAWGEF's Lisa Haugaard and me. We'll be launching it with an event at 12:00PM tomorrow; the official announcement is below. If you're in Washington, please come and discuss with us the Colombian "model" of security and U.S. assistance, and its relevance -- if any -- for U.S. policy toward Mexico, Central America, and elsewhere. From: http://www.wola.org/event/a_cautionary_tale_plan_colombias_lessons_for_m... A Cautionary Tale: Plan Colombia's Lessons for Mexico and Beyond WOLA, the Latin America Working Group Education Fund, and the Center for International Policy cordially invite you to attend a panel discussion and release of: A Cautionary Tale: Plan Colombia's Lessons for Mexico and Beyond Thursday, November 10 12:00-1:30 p.m. Washington Office on Latin America 1666 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20009 Please RSVP to Joseph Bateman at jbateman@wola.org or 202-797-2171. As the U.S. government looks for ways to help Mexico and Central America deal with their crises of violence and organized crime, eyes in Washington turn often to Colombia. Colombia is the only country in the Americas to have significantly reduced insecurity measures in the past 10 years, but Colombia offers no model for Mexico. Some tactics may apply, but the strategy does not. The experience of "Plan Colombia" since 2000 is more of a cautionary tale. WOLA, the Latin America Working Group Education Fund, and the Center for International Policy are pleased to announce the release of A Cautionary Tale. This new report dissects the Colombian experience of the past 10 years, drawing out human rights and strategy lessons that are relevant for U.S. policy toward Mexico and beyond. Copies of the new report will be available at the event and online on November 10. On that day, the report's principal authors, Lisa Haugaard and Adam Isacson, will host a timely discussion of the Plan Colombia and Merida Initiative experiences. We invite you to join us, and we hope for a lively debate.