Pubdate: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 Source: Guardian, The (UK) Copyright: 2005 Guardian Newspapers Limited Contact: http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/175 Author: Toby Muse COCAINE ABUSE RIFE IN COLOMBIA'S CORRIDORS OF POWDER Colombian senators and congressmen not only snort cocaine, but are able to buy the drug in the country's Congress building, a senior politician has claimed. Edgar Artunduaga, vice-president of the Senate, said that drug dealers had permanent access to wander the corridors of power. The accusations were made in a speech drawing attention to lax security on the premises of Congress. "Coming into this congress we have pastry salesmen, shoe salesmen, astrologists and dealers of marijuana and cocaine," said Senator Artunduaga. "The worst is that some congressmen are taking these drugs." He said he had a list of Congress members who were using drugs but that he would not reveal it until it had been seen by the police. In Colombia it is legal to possess small amounts of marijuana, cocaine or heroin for personal usage. "I will denounce the [drug] dealers to authorities," he said, describing some of them as "middle-ranking officials". The country is the world's largest producer of cocaine and since 2000 the government has received more than $3bn (?1.67bn) in mainly military US aid to stamp out the illegal drugs trade. The narcotics industry has fuelled a four-decade civil war, with both leftist rebels and rightwing paramilitaries funding themselves with drug money. Yet despite the violence, the security in key government buildings was weak, said Mr Artunduaga. Metal detectors at the entrance to the Congress building were often out of order, video cameras frequently ran without film, and of the four bomb-sniffing dogs allocated to protect the buildings, only one remained - and he was sick. Mr Artunduaga's allegations are likely to lower the image of Congress still further in the eyes of ordinary Colombians. Many see it as a den of corruption following revelations that both drug traffickers and extreme rightwing paramilitaries had managed to buy off large numbers of politicians. Yesterday some politicians accused Mr Artunduaga of deliberately trying to smear the reputation of Congress. "Artunduaga should present evidence and say who are the lawmakers that use drugs, or resign," said a pro-government deputy, Armando Benedetti. Senator Antonio Navarro, a leading critic of the conservative president, Alvaro Uribe, said he was surprised by the allegations. "Speaking for myself, nobody has offered me any," he said. Suspected leftist guerrillas massacred at least 14 peasants who were cultivating crops used to make cocaine at a remote hamlet near Puerto Valdivia, north-west Colombia, officials said yesterday. Fighters of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, killed 13 men and one woman during the attack on Wednesday, Jorge Mejia, the Antioquia state deputy governor, told Caracol radio. He added that the fieldhands were probably targets because they had been selling their coca to the rebels' rightwing paramilitary foes. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh