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SPECIAL REPORTS -
Wednesday 31 December 2009 |
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COLOMBIA:
Farm Subsidy Scandal Exposes Corrupt
Policies
By Jorge Robledo
BOGOTA, Dec 30 (IPS) - The Attorney
General's Office of Colombia is keeping a
tight lid on developments in its
investigation of 113 million dollars in farm
subsidies handed out over the last three
years to wealthy families, many of whom have
no involvement in the agricultural sector
whatsoever.
A total of 87 individuals have been
questioned so far, including Ministry of
Agriculture officials and recipients of the
non-repayable, tax-free subsidies under the
Agro Ingreso Seguro (AIS) programme.
Many of these beneficiaries have made
sizeable campaign contributions for the
re-election of right-wing President Álvaro
Uribe to a third term in office – pending
the necessary amendment of the country’s
constitution – and include model/actress and
former Miss Colombia Válery Domínguez.
The scandal of the bogus subsidies, which is
also being investigated by the Procuraduría
General de la Nación (Office of the
Inspector General), broke in September after
the publication of an exposé in Cambio
magazine.
According to repeated denunciations by
peasant and indigenous communities,
lawmakers, academics and non-governmental
organisations, the magazine revealed, AIS
funds have not only been disbursed to
wealthy families with close ties to Uribe,
but also to right-wing paramilitary groups
and drug traffickers.
One of the harshest critics of the Uribe
administration’s wrongdoings for many years
has been Senator Jorge Robledo, a member of
the left-leaning opposition party
Alternative Democratic Pole (PDA) and the
Fifth Senate Committee, which is responsible
for agriculture, the environment and natural
resources.
In the heat of the AIS scandal, Robledo
cited current Agriculture Minister Andrés
Fernández for questioning by the Senate.
Fernández replaced former minister Andrés
Felipe Arias, a presidential hopeful who has
been nicknamed "Uribito" (Little Uribe) for
espousing the same political views as the
country’s current leader.
After Robledo’s introductory comments, which
included testimony from a new study
undertaken by the private University of the
Andes and the Centre for Livestock and
Agriculture Studies (CEGA), the debate was
cut short by Senate Speaker Javier Cáceres
on the grounds of "disorder" in the house.
Two weeks later a vote was taken on a motion
to censure the minister, but did not receive
sufficient backing to be passed.
The matter has not been dropped, however.
The Fifth Senate Committee has already
approved a motion to cite Fernández for
questioning once again next year, Robledo
told IPS in this interview that explores the
background to this ongoing scandal.
Q: Has Colombia, a country rich in natural
resources, ever had an appropriate
agricultural policy?
A: No. One of the problems that has played a
role in the country’s economic backwardness
is that agriculture has basically been used
as an instrument for real estate
speculation, with no policies to provide
land to peasant farmers.
Be that as it may, however, the country’s
agricultural policies since the 1990s have
been worse than ever. Before then, at least,
there was the belief that Colombia could
produce its own food. Today, an ever greater
amount of food is imported.
Q: How would you describe Colombia’s
agricultural policy during Uribe's seven
years in office?
A: I would say that it has never been so
reactionary. In the Fifth Senate Committee’s
debates, we have determined that the current
policy is at the service of transnational
corporations.
When Uribe took office as president (in
2002), Colombia was importing six million
tons of food annually. Today it imports 10
million tons, when the free trade agreement
with the United States has yet to enter into
force, or the agreement with Europe, and
there is talk of an agreement with
Australia, a major agricultural power.
Domestically, policy is geared to a
plutocratic model; in other words, resources
have become increasingly concentrated in a
very few, very powerful hands.
Q: The government alleges that these
accusations have been made up by the
opposition, and especially by you.
A: Corruption scandals involving the
agricultural sector under this government
are very well known. The claims of a major
presence of powerful interests, paramilitary
groups and drug traffickers in rural areas
of Colombia are in no way exaggerated. It is
all part of a process of land hoarding,
investing money in land in order to use it
later for speculative purposes.
Under a corrupt government like this one, it
comes as no surprise that all of the
scandals that involve the Ministry of
Agriculture also end up involving, or
referring in one way or another, to drug
traffickers and paramilitary groups.
Q: Why do you believe that after your
comments, the Senate debate was cut off
before Minister Fernández had spoken?
A: It was a ploy, because the debate was so
overwhelming and devastating that Fernández
was left speechless. And so the session was
adjourned, and put off for two weeks, so
that former minister Arias could write a
response that was then read by Fernández, as
was proven later.
It was a political ploy used to close ranks,
which is typical of Uribe’s people, and to
protect two of his buddies.
And we lost the vote on the motion of
censure because we didn’t get the 52 votes
we needed. However, of Uribe's 70 allies in
the Senate, only 40 supported the minister.
Q: It’s well known that Arias and Fernández
have been friends since childhood. But which
of the two is responsible for the AIS
scandal?
A: It is obvious, given their personalities,
that both Arias and Fernández are agents
acting on behalf of the government, employed
by President Uribe, who is the real
mastermind behind agricultural policy, which
internally responds to the elites, and
externally serves the transnationals, the
monopolies and ultimately Washington.
In other words, all of this is Uribe’s
doing. I even found a speech on the web site
of the president's office, from last April,
where he declares his intention to set up
estates of 40,000 to 50,000 hectares in the
eastern lowlands, something he hasn’t
managed to do yet because the law does not
allow it.
His intention was for AIS resources to be
allocated to these estates. This shows that
what he wants is to set up huge
landholdings, which is why he brought
tycoons from around the world to (the
eastern province of) Vichada. There is a
photograph of the president showing Bill
Gates a piece of property he would like to
sell him.
The study by the University of the Andes and
CEGA shows that the concentration of
Ministry of Agriculture resources began
shortly before 2002, but has been
particularly stepped up since then. AIS is
sort of the culmination of an idea that had
developed earlier.
Q: The accusations raised certain
expectations, but since the ministers have
not resigned there is the feeling that
nothing is really happening.
A: That is only partly true. Perhaps there
is nothing happening immediately. And not
everything that one would like to see is
happening, but things are moving, in any
case. Small modifications in policy have
been achieved, but above all, awareness of
the truth is growing, and foundations are
being set for the future.
Why isn’t more happening? Because the
country is confused and corrupted. That
means that even good people, which is most
people in Colombia, get tangled up.
But things are happening. For example, I
think this has dealt a fatal blow to Arias’s
candidacy, which is something major, because
he shares all of the same defects as Álvaro
Uribe.
Q: Do you have faith in the findings of the
investigations by the Attorney General’s
Office and the Office of the Inspector
General?
A: There are a number of issues involved.
First of all, the regulations designed by
the government permit the concentration of
land ownership. They also make it possible
for a single estate to be divided up to
allow for various projects to be carried
out, benefiting a single family. This has
been purposefully set up through legal
instruments.
We also know that the Attorney General’s
Office and the Office of the Inspector
General are subject to heavy pressure from
the Uribe administration, which also follows
a policy of deceit, of pretending not to
understand the question, or covering things
up. And so it wouldn’t surprise me if they
ended up not finding anything, or laying the
blame on a third- or fourth-level
functionary as a scapegoat.
Q: At the height of the scandal, Uribe
called for the money to be returned, and as
far as anyone knows, the only person who has
turned the money over so far is former Miss
Colombia Válery Domínguez. Have there been
any further developments?
A: Not that I know of. Among other reasons,
because a lot of the recipients must have
spent the money even before the debate
began…Which means that the president’s
public request for the money to be returned
is just another one of his tricks.
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