U.S. military aid increased paramilitary violence: researchershttp://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/7156-research-suggests-us-military-aid-increased-paramilitary-violence-in-colombia-.html

Researchers from two prestigious U.S. universities suggest a direct relationship between the amount of military aid to Colombia and the violence of armed paramilitary groups.Their research also analyized how military aid affects voter turnout during the election periods of 2000 and 2003. They concluded that in municipalities with military bases where U.S. aid is high there is lower voter turnout during elections. For example, if U.S. military aid is increased by 10 percent, a 5- to 10-percent drop in voter turnout can be observed.In Colombia, as we shall see, as much as one third of the Senate may have been elected in elections heavily influenced by armed paramilitary groups, added the separate study, entitled The Monopoly of Violence: Evidence from Colombia.military aid is not effective in fighting drug trafficking, despite having been the main goal of the Andean Regional Initiative and Plan Colombia.In municipalities with bases we find no effect on coca cultivation levels with increasing aid. In fact, U.S. aid negatively affected the commitment of the Colombian forces in the fight against drugs.If we think the two main objectives of U.S. military aid are counterinsurgency (in terms of crushing the guerrillas) and the war on drugs (in reducing coca cultivation), what we find is that none of these objectives are being achieved, they concluded.