ABSTRACT
Plan Colombia, to be understood properly, should be located in a historical perspective both with relation to Colombia and to the recent conflicts in Central America. Plan Colombia is both “new” policy and a continuation of past U.S. involvement in Colombia. Beginning in the early 1960s, under President Kennedy, Washington launched its regional counterinsurgency program, forming special operations forces to enable client regimes to fend off attacks by “popular movements.” 1 The principal target in Colombia was the autonomous peasant self-defense communities, particularly those based in Marquetalia. Plan Colombia was President Clinton's extension and deepening of President Kennedy's counterinsurgency doctrine for Latin America.
