Pubdate: Thu, 26 Jul 2001 Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN) Copyright: 2001 St. Paul Pioneer Press Contact: http://www.pioneerplanet.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/379 COLOMBIAN DRUG CROPS PROLIFERATE BOGOTA, Colombia -- With Washington set to deepen its involvement in Colombia's anti-drug efforts, U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson said Wednesday there are far more cocaine- and heroin-producing crops growing here than previously believed. "Everywhere we look there is more coca than we expected," Patterson told a small group of American journalists, referring to the prime ingredient of cocaine. It was her first substantive on-the-record briefing since arriving in Colombia a year ago from El Salvador, where she also was the ambassador. The most recent U.S. estimate, conducted at the end of last year, showed 336,400 acres of coca being cultivated. That compares to the U.S. State Department's estimate of 303,000 acres for 1999. In addition, Colombian police say 15,300 acres were being used to grow poppies, from which heroin is made. But now drug crops have been found in areas of Colombia where none was believed to have existed before -- in eastern Vichada state and north, in Arauca state, among other places. Washington is sending planes and helicopters to Colombia and is considering giving more aid, atop a $1.3 billion existing package aimed against leftist rebels and rival right-wing paramilitaries who tax drug crops that are exported to the United States and elsewhere. The training of 3,000 Colombian army counternarcotics troops by U.S. Green Berets in southern Colombia was completed last May. But plans are envisioned to expand the training to more Colombian soldiers in smaller batches in other parts of the country, Patterson said. "We don't think there is going to be a problem on the Hill with that," Patterson said, referring to the U.S. Congress, where some oppose U.S. military aid to Colombia. "The U.S. Congress would be notified if that plan goes forward." Critics of Washington's aid say the United States is being sucked into another war, as in Vietnam or El Salvador. It is unclear by how much the original drug-crop estimates may be short. Of the heroin crops, Patterson said: "There is more out there than we can find right now." She added that a very pure grade of Colombian heroin has been arriving in the United States, particularly New York and Philadelphia. Patterson said the pace of fumigation will pick up "very dramatically.'' Washington made a clear sign Tuesday that U.S. participation will continue when the House approved $676 million to fight drugs and advance economic and political stability in Colombia and in its neighboring countries. The first of dozens of new combat helicopters provided under the aid package will be arriving on Saturday from the United States. Fourteen more U.S. crop dusters will also be arriving starting in September, which will more than double the current fleet in Colombia by next March. Some of the crop dusters are being outfitted with night-vision devices to enable pilots to fumigate after dark, making them less exposed to gunfire from rebels and paramilitaries. The crop dusters began blanketing huge chunks of Colombian territory with the herbicide glyphosate last December under the U.S. aid program. The planes have been escorted by reconditioned U.S.-provided helicopters and protected by Colombian soldiers trained by U.S. Green Berets. No U.S. citizens will be allowed to fly the army combat helicopters, Patterson said. "It's dangerous," she said. "I'm under no illusion what it would mean to have an American shot down here, and no one in the U.S. is." Reacting to complaints that glyphosate is a health hazard, the U.S. Embassy will recruit 1,000 Colombians as test subjects in a toxicological study. U.S. officials insist that glyphosate, sold in the U.S. as a common weed killer under the name Roundup, is safe. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe