Pubdate: Fri, 07 Sep 2001 Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL) Page: 10A, The World Copyright: 2001 St. Petersburg Times Contact: http://www.sptimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/419 Author: Associated Press RETHINK DRUG WAR, COLOMBIAN LEADER URGES Andres Pastrana Will Meet The U.S. Secretary of State Next Week In Bogota 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 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. He also said the United States should re-establish intelligence- sharing with Colombia's air force on suspected drug flights, and urged President Bush to help organize an international narcotics conference. "Clearly, we must also make an evaluation - and not only of the policies of fumigation and interdiction," Pastrana said. Washington suspended helping Colombia and Peru track down drug flights after the accidental shootdown of a U.S. missionary plane over Peru in April. Pastrana said the suspension "has allowed a lot of drugs to pass over our territory because there is no control of our air space." He urged a resumption, saying: "I think we can truly hit the heart of the business through interdiction, and not simply through fumigation." The fumigation of drug plants by U.S.-provided crop dusters is part of Washington's $1.3-billion counternarcotics policy in Colombia. The spraying has been criticized amid allegations it endangers health and the environment. The 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 the coca and poppy plantations that provide much of the world's cocaine, and most of the heroin used in the United States. Pastrana said the U.S. and Europe should stem the laundering of drug money and control the export of chemicals used in Colombia to process cocaine. 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 said. "And for the first time, we today are sitting at the table even with all the difficulties." Pastrana said he plans to discuss trade with Powell during his visit to Bogota on Tuesday and Wednesday. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager