Pubdate: Mon, 12 Mar 2007
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2007 The Dallas Morning News
Contact:  http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Author: Todd J. Gillman, The Dallas Morning News

BUSH TARGETS DRUGS DURING TRIP

Amid Tight Security, He And Colombian Leader Vow To Fight Traffickers

BOGOTA, Colombia - Amid tight security, the presidents of the United 
States and Colombia vowed an ongoing alliance to fight the drug trade 
and the rebel groups that feed off it.

"This country has come through some very difficult times," President 
Bush said at the side of President Alvaro Uribe, a close ally whose 
country receives more U.S. aid than any outside the Middle East. "I'm 
looking forward very much to ... continuing to work with you to 
defeat the drug lords and narco-traffickers - the narco-terrorists." 
Mr. Bush has proposed about $700 million in direct annual aid on top 
of the $4 billion Colombia has received since Mr. Uribe took office 
in 2002. The Colombian leader prodded Mr. Bush for even more, saying 
U.S. support has helped curb crime, corruption and the drug trade and 
weakened left-wing guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries.

But a scandal linking top Colombian officials to brutal right-wing 
groups blamed for countless massacres in a 42-year civil war cast a 
shadow over the visit. Eight Uribe allies in Congress have been arrested.

The foreign minister resigned when her brother and father were 
implicated. Mr. Bush asked Mr. Uribe about the scandal and said he 
came away assured. "If there are members of this government that have 
any links to these organizations, they will be immediately removed 
from their offices," Mr. Uribe said. "Our commitment is the full 
defeat of terrorists and the total recovery of justice and of 
democratic institutions." Mr. Bush spent six hours in Bogota, all 
inside two of the city's most fortified buildings, the presidential 
palace called Casa de Narina, where he received a red-carpet welcome 
with military honors, and the U.S. Embassy. Also Online Expect Bush, 
Calderon to be all business on border, drugs About 2,000 protesters 
gathered about a mile from the palace chanting "Down with Bush" and 
burning American flags.

Scattered graffiti called him an assassin. Security was extraordinarily tight.

One unusual tactic involved an entire decoy motorcade.

More than 20,000 police and security personnel were deployed. A key 
focus of Sunday's meeting was a six-year-old joint project known as 
Plan Colombia, which aims to quell violence and drugs.

Spraying has wiped out record acreage of coca. But street prices 
remain near all-time lows. "We've spent a tremendous amount of money, 
and the amount of stuff is the same as ever," said Riordan Roett, 
director of Latin American Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of 
Advanced International Studies. "The Colombians have to come up with 
different strategies."

But both presidents affirmed a strong commitment to the plan. Human 
rights advocates had hoped Mr. Bush would put more public pressure on 
Colombia. A State Department report released last Tuesday indicated 
that while conditions have improved, "forced disappearances" persist, 
as do murders by security forces, corruption and collaboration 
between soldiers and drug traffickers and terrorists.

The two leaders also discussed the plight of three U.S. military 
contractors who have been held hostage by FARC rebels for four years.

The men were on a drug surveillance flight when their plane crashed 
in a remote, rebel-controlled area in southern Colombia. Mr. Uribe 
has refused to trade the hostages for imprisoned guerrillas.

Mr. Bush sidestepped a question about whether a rescue operation is 
being considered. "I am concerned about their safety," he said of the 
captives. "These are three innocent folks who have been held hostage 
for too long. ... We hear from their families.

Their kidnappers ought to show some heart."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman