Plan Colombia

Uh, and then she, yeah, and then she meets, uh, she meets Pastrana there, and that's, uh, supposedly, um, per their version of events, that's how the, um, you know, the Epstein/Ghislaine/Pastrana relationship is, is formed.

Um, but fascinatingly, uh, in, in, since the DOJ disclosures, there was actually a, uh, Colombian manifesto that was signed by, um, I b- I believe it's 51 or 151 Colombian women, uh, and, and victims of, uh, sexual violence, who called upon the, uh, the former, um, Colombian admini- a- administration of, uh, Pastrana to, um, similarly disclose, uh, any, uh, governmental documents that may speak to or, or document, um, their allegation that Epstein and Ghislaine were there specifically as, as functionaries and, and dignitaries of Plan Colombia, which it was, you know, really, like, the, uh, it was kind of the Clinton and early Bush era, um, uh, you know, like, redux of, like, the earlier war on drugs and Operation Condor, um, where they end up putting a lot of, uh, you know, federal monies towards, um, compa- combating supposed left, uh, drug dealing, uh, in Colombia, right? And, um, I mean, yeah.

So anyways, uh, to, uh, to avoid getting too, too into the, too into the details, it's via, uh, their relationship with, uh, President Pastrana that they come to Colombia, and then, uh, Pastrana is the, you know, he introduces, uh, Epstein and Ghislaine to, uh, Fidel Castro.

And I think that this is, like, a critical piece of information for people to keep in mind because, um, you know, there's been plenty, uh, plenty has been made of the, the pictures that were, uh, taken of...

Right.

This massive shift took off with Plan Colombia in 2000, and then it was solidified by the Democratic Security Policy in 2002.

And we need to clarify something crucial right here, because when we talk about, you know, aligning with the population's expectations, it is incredibly easy to assume we mean soft diplomacy.

Hearts and minds.

That's why this idea of middle class, democratic, and secure is so powerful for me personally.

Now, I ran Plan Colombia in Colombia, which was a, an narcotics program, but really, uh, you know, in 2000, it was a coin toss whether or not Colombia would remain a, a democracy, the longest democracy in the hemisphere, or it was gonna be what today we see in Venezuela, uh, a c- a country that harbors our geostrategic competitors, um, floods the streets, uh, of the United States with, with, with drugs and migrants and, and, and everything else, or it was gonna be a, a partner.

And in a very bipartisan fashion, over a period of, of administrations, uh, we funded Plan Colombia, which was not just an anti-narcotics, uh, movement, but it also was institution building.

I think we need the same thing in Venezuela, and, and I'd like to, to lean on Colombia to help us there.

Um, but when I think about this mass migration, y- y- you know, I...