Pubdate: Sun, 24 Mar 2002
Source: Buffalo News (NY)
Copyright: 2002 The Buffalo News
Contact:  http://www.buffalonews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/61
Authors: Karen DeYoung and Anthony Faiola, Washington Post
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/area/peru (Peru)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?203 (Terrorism)

BUSH, PERUVIAN LEADER TARGET TERROR AND DRUGS

LIMA, Peru - President Bush and President Alejandro Toledo of Peru pledged 
Saturday to join in what Toledo called "a war without quarter" against 
terrorism and drug trafficking in the Andean region.

"We are partners not just through conviction," Toledo said at a news 
conference with Bush. "But we ourselves have experienced the effects of 
terrorism here for 20 years," including the explosion Wednesday of a 
100-pound car bomb across from the U.S. Embassy that killed nine people and 
wounded 30.

"We share a common perspective on terror," Bush said. "We must stop it."

Bush offered condolences over the attack and announced $195 million in 
assistance for Peru this year, a threefold increase; $75 million of it 
would go toward counternarcotics programs and security.

"Peruvians have been reminded again this week of the terrible human toil of 
terror," Bush said. He thanked Peru for taking the lead "in rallying our 
hemisphere to take strong action against this common threat."

The two leaders met in Toledo's presidential palace on Lima's central 
square amid a massive security operation throughout the Peruvian capital. 
More than 7,000 police officers were deployed on city streets, many in full 
riot gear.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing, though Peruvian 
officials have said they suspect a resurgent Shining Path guerrilla 
movement, thought to have largely disbanded after its leader was arrested 
in 1992.

U.S. and Peruvian security officials were put on even higher alert Saturday 
morning after six small homemade explosives were tossed from a car and 
detonated on the roadside in a poor district of Lima, far from anywhere 
Bush was scheduled to visit.

Police also cracked down on a small anti-American demonstration in a 
central city square, firing tear gas and arresting 18 people.

Bush's one-day visit, the first to Peru by a sitting U.S. president, was 
designed to demonstrate the administration's strong interest in Latin 
America, particularly the Andean countries where the United States is 
funding major military and development aid programs to try to stop the 
production and export of cocaine and heroin to U.S. markets.

The presidents of Colombia and Bolivia, and the vice president of Ecuador, 
also flew here to meet with Bush on Saturday night following his talks with 
Toledo.

Officials had hoped that Bush would arrive with a major trade deal and 
would announce the renewal of a joint anti-narcotics aerial surveillance 
program suspended last year.

But he had little to offer beyond a pat on the back for their democratic 
governments and a promise to keep working on those issues.

Bush blamed the Senate for failing to vote on the Andean Trade Preferences 
Act, a 10-year agreement that expired in December. Though the House 
extended and expanded the trade pact several months ago, a handful of 
senators have objected to eliminating import duties on textile goods and 
other regional products.

Regional governments have complained privately that the administration, 
distracted by the war against global terrorism, failed to push the agreement.

The drug surveillance program, jointly operated with the United States in 
Peru and Colombia, was shut down in April when the Peruvian air force shot 
down an aircraft carrying U.S. missionaries, killing a woman and her infant 
daughter. A CIA-piloted plane patrolling over northern Peru mistakenly 
targeted the plane as a drug flight.

Investigations by the State Department and the Senate criticized the 
program as sloppily organized and supervised. Though an administration 
review was completed last summer, and the White House has repeatedly 
indicated it intended to reactivate the flights, it has not done so.

Sources in Washington have said the administration was still trying to 
figure out how to respond to Senate demands that the CIA end its 
involvement in the program and that the program be taken over by the U.S. 
military or Customs Service.

Administration officials have said there were no signs that clandestine 
drug flights have increased. They said reinstatement of the program was 
important to Toledo and Colombian President Andres Pastrana as an 
indication of U.S. support and trust.

Bush told reporters he had talked with Toledo about how the United States 
can help fight drug trafficking and terrorists. He said the United States 
would support Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which is looking 
into past human rights abuses and would reach out with teacher training, 
nutrition programs and cultural exchanges.

He also announced a trade mission to Peru, led by Commerce Secretary Don 
Evans, this year.

"The United States is actively supporting the president's efforts to 
strengthen Peru's democratic foundations," Bush said. "You can't alleviate 
poverty if there's terror in your neighborhood."

Besides money, Bush said the United States has an obligation to reduce U.S. 
demand for illegal drugs. "We've got to do a better job at home of 
convincing Americans to stop using drugs," he said. "That will, in turn, 
help the region."

The increased U.S. aid will support Peru's efforts to stem a possible 
resurgence in coca production and the recent appearance of heroin poppy 
crops in remote highland areas.

Bush and Toledo also announced resumption of a U.S. Peace Corps program in 
Peru and a U.S. fellowship for Peruvian business leaders.

The initiatives were little compared with the languishing trade pact that 
Toledo hopes will help diminish his country's double-digit unemployment rate.

Terrorism, and the drug trafficking that the Bush administration has 
described as its close relative, were clearly the central topics of discussion.

The importance of the issue was underlined both by the Wednesday bombing 
and an administration request to Congress last week to expand U.S. military 
aid and training in Colombia, which are now limited to anti-drug efforts, 
to that government's decades-long war against leftist guerrillas.

Both the U.S. and Colombian governments have labeled the Revolutionary 
Armed Forces of Colombia as terrorists. U.S. anti-drug assistance to 
Colombia over the last two years has totaled nearly $2 billion. A much 
smaller program in Peru, about $150 million in the current budget, is also 
limited to fighting drugs.

U.S. officials here said there was "no question" that Washington would 
offer immediate anti-terrorism assistance if it was determined that the 
Shining Path was responsible for the car bombing.

Though no Americans were killed in the attack, agents from the FBI and the 
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are here helping with the investigation.
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