by Francis Fukuyama

About the author: Francis Fukuyama is a professor of public policy at George Mason University and author of The Great Disruption: Human Nature and the Reconstitution of Social Order.

The Clinton administration’s proposal to provide $1.57 billion in aid to Colombia to help fight drugs has drawn opposition from many of the same forces that opposed U.S. support to Central America during the Reagan administration. A coterie of human-rights groups have warned of abuses by paramilitary groups said to be working with the Colombian military. Other critics say the aid package will encourage repression, militarize a drug problem better dealt with through treatment and draw the U.S. into a Vietnam-style quagmire.

Support for the package is, by contrast, quite tepid. House Republicans are generally favorable to the administration...