Source: Washington Post Author: Serge F. Kovaleski, Washington Post Foreign Service Note: Staff writer Douglas Farah in Washington contributed to this report Pubdate: Friday, February 27, 1998 Contact: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ COLOMBIA HAILS LIFTING OF SANCTIONS Samper Government Continues to Assail U.S. Certification Process BOGOTA, Colombia, Feb. 26-The government of President Ernesto Samper said today that the U.S. decision to waive two-year-old sanctions against Colombia and end its pariah status in the international war on drugs shows that Washington has finally recognized the extent of this nation's efforts in combating drug trafficking. But while asserting that the U.S. policy shift represents "a normalizing" of often tense relations between the two countries, the Colombian government continued to criticize the annual congressionally mandated certification process. Signed into law in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan, the process calls for the administration to certify whether nations are being fully cooperative with the United States in the global war on illicit drug trafficking. Decertified nations are subject to sanctions -- that is, restrictions on U.S. assistance to combat drug dealing. In today's action, the State Department did not certify Colombia as fully cooperative but chose to waive the two-year-old sanctions in the interest of "U.S. national security." Foreign Minister Maria Emma Mejia said in an interview today that the U.S. certification system "is a mechanism that is not effective or fair and one that creates confrontation more than cooperation; it has lost its touch [after] 12 years. "Nowadays, we have so many multilateral mechanisms; unilateralism is not the way to go anymore," Mejia said. Samper, who by law cannot seek a second term and will step down after elections in May, described today's decision as a victory for his administration and his country. Colombia, with 35 million people, is the world's biggest producer and distributor of cocaine and a leading supplier of heroin and marijuana. Washington's two-year decertification was driven largely by accusations that Samper, in his 1994 presidential campaign, received at least $6 million in illegal contributions from Colombia's Cali drug cartel. He has denied the accusations. Tonight, Samper said that years of recriminations between the two countries are a thing of the past. "Welcome to a new stage of relations based on cooperation and mutual help," he said in a speech on the certification issue given at the presidential palace. In Washington, Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright said the sanctions waiver was issued in recognition that Colombian anti-drug forces "have conducted an effective eradication and interdiction effort." "But the current government has not demonstrated full political support for counter-narcotics efforts," Albright said. "Coming on the eve of that country's congressional and presidential elections, the waiver decision is intended to lay the groundwork for increased cooperation and to support those in Colombia who are striving to strengthen the rule of law and buttress their embattled democracy." Barry R. McCaffrey, the Clinton administration's drug policy chief, said the U.S. decision in no way signals a change of heart regarding Samper, whose U.S. visa was revoked in 1996. In its bid to show progress in the war on drugs, Colombia has been aggressive in such areas as eradicating drug crops, seizing traffickers' assets, arresting drug lords and stiffening penalties for drug-related crimes and money laundering. According to government figures, Colombian and U.S. law enforcement authorities last year sprayed herbicides on more than 127,000 acres of coca and poppy fields -- which could have produced 159,000 pounds of cocaine hydrochloride and 20,611 pounds of heroin per harvest. Generally, there are two poppy harvests and at least three harvests of coca per year. In addition, the Colombian government enforced asset-forfeiture measures against more than 1,500 properties and 27 companies, as well as some legitimate organizations that had received drug money. "If you review our efforts, we should have gotten full certification," Mejia said. "We are learning and getting more skillful and more committed. We will give this to the next government and stay on the right track." Sergio Uribe, a consultant on drug issues for such organizations as the Inter-American Development Bank and the United Nations, said the sanction waiver will, among other things, give Colombia greater access to international banks, "where the country has not been able to get soft funds and guarantees for investments." © Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company