Pubdate: Sun, 01 Apr 2001
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
Copyright: 2001 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.jsonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/265
Author: T. Christian Miller, Los Angeles Times

COLOMBIA BLAMES U.S. FOR DRUG PROBLEM

Bogata, Colombia - There are plenty of ways to interpret "Traffic," the 
Oscar-winning, labyrinthine drug war docudrama film. But in Colombia, where 
the film was just released, one stands out: vindication.

Few countries have done as much to fight drugs, with less recognition for 
the effort, than Colombia. Three presidential candidates, dozens of judges 
and hundreds of police officers have been killed in the largely U.S.-backed 
war on drugs.

Nevertheless, Colombians complain that they are seen abroad as a nation of 
drug dealers, corrupt politicians and violent thugs.

Thus, for many Colombians, the most rewarding part of director Steven 
Soderbergh's film is its emphasis on U.S. demand as the evil twin to 
Colombia's production.

"If you ask who is responsible for the problem with drugs, the answer is, 
'The U.S.,' " said Ricardo Rincon, who watched the movie with his son at a 
Bogota shopping mall on a recent weekday night. "Without demand, there is 
no production. Without demand, there wouldn't be a problem."

Theaters have been packed since "Trafico" had its debut earlier this week. 
At a recent showing, the tense silence was broken only once, by scornful 
laughter, when several people in the crowd laughed out loud at a character 
who referred dismissively to the idea that addicts need treatment.

Colombians long have considered the United States blind to its own role in 
the drug trade, ready to deliver guns, money and lofty rhetoric but 
unwilling to confront the problem of drug consumption on its own turf.

As a result, there is a lingering suspicion here that the U.S. doesn't take 
its obligations in the "War on Drugs" very seriously, content to let 
Colombia and other drug-producing countries do the dirty work. Former 
President Clinton's recent pardon of various drug traffickers was seen as 
the height of hypocrisy.

For many Colombians, the U.S.-backed Plan Colombia is the latest evidence 
of this blind spot. The expensive plan to cut cocaine production in this 
country generally has been welcomed by Colombians, who believe the $1.3 
billion in aid will strengthen its police and army and help re-establish 
order within its own borders.

But few people believe that the destruction of Colombia's vast plantations 
of cocaine will result in the disappearance of America's vast numbers of 
drug users.

Instead, there is widespread belief that the eradication of drugs in 
Colombia would only shift cocaine production, and its violence, to 
neighboring countries. That would leave Colombia's problem solved but ours 
intact.

Besides the focus on demand, the film has struck a nerve here in another 
way. By tracing the lives of several characters touched by narcotics, the 
film personalizes the "War on Drugs." And many Colombians have direct 
experience with the violence and heartbreak of the drug trade.

There is even a close parallel to the plot line involving Michael Douglas' 
character, the drug czar whose daughter is addicted to heroin. Only last 
month, the son of the woman who heads Colombia's anti-drug cultivation 
program was sentenced to more than five years in prison for trying to 
smuggle heroin through the Miami airport.
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