Pubdate: Fri, 07 Sep 2001
Source: Register-Guard, The (OR)
Copyright: 2001 The Register-Guard
Contact:  http://www.registerguard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/362

DRUG WAR RE-EXAMINATION URGED

BOGOTA, Colombia - President Andres Pastrana, one of Washington's closest 
allies in the global war on drugs, called Thursday for a review of that 
struggle, saying it has produced few victories.

"The conclusions are not good," Pastrana said in a rare talk with foreign 
journalists ahead of next week's visit by Secretary of State Colin Powell. 
"The conclusions are that drugs are still the first-or second-biggest 
business of mankind."

Pastrana said he still hopes for a negotiated end to Colombia's civil war 
and believes developed countries have done little to stem the drug use that 
is fueling the conflict. He urged President Bush to organize an 
international narcotics conference.

"Clearly we must also make an evaluation - and not only of the policies of 
fumigation and interdiction," Pastrana said.

He described a global narcotics industry worth $500 billion. Drug use is on 
the rise in the United States, and drug lords are seeking out new markets 
in Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Pastrana said the United States and Europe should stem the laundering of 
drug money and control the export of chemicals used in Colombia to process 
cocaine.

He also urged the United States to re-establish intelligence-sharing with 
Colombia's air force about suspected drug flights. The program was halted 
following the accidental shootdown of a U.S. missionary plane over the 
Peruvian Amazon in April.

"I think we can truly hit the heart of the business through interdiction, 
and not simply through fumigation," Pastrana said.

The fumigation of drug plants by U.S.-provided crop-dusters is the linchpin 
of Washington's $1.3 billion counternarcotics policy in Colombia. But the 
spraying has come under fire amid allegations that it endangers both health 
and the environment, and that it hurts peasant farmers who grow coca to eke 
out a living.

The 47-year-old president gave no indication that he would backtrack on the 
spraying during his last year in office, but said he wanted to focus on 
large-scale coca plantations.

The rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and their 
enemies, the right-wing paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of 
Colombia, earn huge profits by guarding and taxing coca and poppy 
plantations that provide much of the world's cocaine and most of the heroin 
used in the United States.

The millions of dollars in drug revenue has allowed the FARC and the 
paramilitaries to expand their forces and better arm themselves, further 
destabilizing Colombia.

Despite the glacially slow pace of peace talks begun with the FARC three 
years ago, Pastrana said he would leave office satisfied.

"I tell you, Andres Pastrana was elected for one purpose: To try, by all 
legal and constitutional means, to consolidate a peace process," he told 
reporters. "And for the first time, we today are sitting at the table even 
with all the difficulties."

Pastrana said he has not decided yet whether to renew rebel control over a 
huge southern safe haven he granted the FARC three years ago. The safe 
zone, which the FARC allegedly is using to stash kidnap victims and stage 
military attacks, expires next month.

Pastrana said he plans to discuss trade issues with Powell during his visit 
on Tuesday and Wednesday. Colombia wants a renewal and broadening of the 
U.S. Andean Trade Preference Act, which expires in December, Pastrana said.

ATPA aims to develop legal alternatives to drug production in Bolivia, 
Colombia, Ecuador and Peru by giving duty-free status to the region's 
exports, such as flowers, minerals, coffee and bananas.

Colombia wants to add textiles, food oils and other products.

"We've said to the Americans: Don't give us dollars. We don't want money," 
Pastrana said. "Give us trade. Give us the chance to compete."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom