Pubdate: Tue, 15 Jan 2008
Source: Gainesville Sun, The (FL)
Copyright: 2008 The Gainesville Sun
Contact:  http://www.sunone.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/163
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

SMARTER CROOKS, FEWER DRUG BUSTS

MIAMI - U.S.-directed seizures and disruptions of cocaine shipments 
from Latin America dropped sharply in 2007 from the year before, 
reflecting in part a successful shift in tactics by drug traffickers 
to avoid detection at sea, senior U.S. officials said in releasing new figures.

Navy Adm. Jim Stavridis, commander of U.S. Southern Command, which is 
responsible for U.S. military operations in the region, said seizures 
fell from 262 metric tons in 2006 to about 210 tons last year.

"It's difficult to say why that is," he said Monday in an interview 
with three reporters who visited his headquarters with Adm. Mike 
Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who expressed concern 
at the shift.

The 2007 figure was the lowest since 2003, other officials said. Last 
year's drop broke a string of yearly increases in cocaine seizures 
and disruptions dating to the late 1990s. The numbers include 
estimates of cocaine thrown overboard or scuttled with vessels -- a 
common response by smugglers who are detected at sea.

The biggest dropoff last year was in seizures at sea, which fell from 
nearly 160 metric tons in 2006 to about 100 metric tons last year, 
according to the figures, which are preliminary but were described by 
officials as reliable estimates.

"In any given contest of offense and defense you've got to adjust 
your tactics," Stavridis added, alluding to a conclusion reached by 
Mullen and others that the drug organizations are nimbler than the 
U.S. government. They are finding new ways of eluding detection at 
sea, such as shipping drugs in semi-submersible vessels, and are 
flying drug routes from sites in western Venezuela that are harder to 
stop, officials said.

Mullen put it more directly during an exchange earlier Monday with 
several dozen officials at the headquarters of Joint Interagency Task 
Force South in Florida, where military and civilian agencies -- 
including the Pentagon and the CIA -- coordinate the tracking of drug 
shipments and drug leaders.

"The bad guy is moving faster than we're moving," Mullen said.

The Joint Chiefs chairman also said he is concerned at how long it 
might take to regain the advantage.

"I worry a little bit about how we as a government are able to focus 
on this mission," he said, noting that the counterdrug mission is a 
lower national security priority now than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In comments later in Miami, Mullen also expressed worry at Iran's 
push to strengthen its ties in Latin America.

In September, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Bolivia, 
where he pledged $1 billion (euro670 million) in investment, and then 
Venezuela to meet President Hugo Chavez, whom the administration of 
U.S. President George W. Bush accuses of being a threat to stability 
in the region. He also has been to Nicaragua recently.

"I'm very concerned about the Iranian engagement here," Mullen told a 
news conference at Southern Command headquarters after meeting 
privately with Stavridis and his staff. "I haven't seen any evidence 
that Iran has fomented any kind of terrorism in this part of the 
world," but there remains a "very disconcerting" possibility that 
Iran's growing presence could lead to future terrorist links, he added.

Mullen also was asked about Chavez's statement Sunday urging his 
Colombian counterpart, Alvaro Uribe, to recognize the Revolutionary 
Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and the National Liberation Army 
as legitimate insurgent groups -- rather than terrorists -- as a 
first step toward possible peace talks.

"My principal concern there is from a security standpoint," Mullen 
said. "I've watched Venezuela move in this direction" -- an allusion 
to a view among U.S. military officials that Chavez is actively 
seeking to counter U.S. efforts in Colombia to help the government 
defeat the FARC.

In commenting on the drug war, Stavridis did not indicate that he is 
alarmed by the 2007 drop in drug seizures and disruptions.

Among possible explanations offered by Stavridis was that more of the 
drug traffic is being directed east across the Atlantic toward Europe 
and Africa, where it often fetches higher prices, rather than toward 
Mexico and the United States. He also said it was possible that more 
of the cocaine is being used inside Latin America by the cartels for 
payoffs "for various activities" which he did not discuss in detail.

Another factor that other U.S. officials said is playing a major role 
in the drug traffickers' recent success is their increasing use of 
semi-submersible vessels that are much harder to detect at sea.

To underscore his concern about this development, Stavridis has 
placed on the lawn in front of the Southern Command headquarters 
building a replica of a drug smuggling semi-submersible built by the 
Naval Research Office in the 1990s to enable the U.S. military to 
study ways to detect and track them.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom