PUERTO ARTURO, Colombia - Cocaine is killing the great nature parks of Colombia.

Government spraying of coca plant killer is driving growers and traffickers out of their usual territory into national parks where spraying is banned. Here they are burning thousands of acres of virgin rain forest and poisoning rivers with chemicals.

Now the government faces a painful dilemma: to spray weedkiller would be devastating, but the impact of coca-growing is increasingly destructive. The question is, which is worse?

Colombia is home to about 15 percent of all the world's plant species and one of its most diverse arrays of amphibians, mammals and birds. Dozens of species that populate its jungles and Andes mountains exist nowhere else on the planet. One of the richest is the Sierra Macarena National Park, where monkeys clamber across the jungle canopy and seven species of big cat prowl in its shadows.

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A Massive Colombian Military Offensive Has Pushed Leftist Guerrillas Out Of Their Strongholds, But It's Not Clear If The Soldiers Can Hold Their New Positions In The Long Run

MIRAFLORES, Colombia - This isolated village was an icon of the FARC guerrillas' power since 1998, when they wiped out a government outpost, killed 68 soldiers and police, wounded 87 and captured up to 40 others in the worst-ever defeat of Colombian security forces.

But today, police and soldiers have a base here again and an army brigade has been pushing the FARC farther from the village and deeper into the jungle, seizing hundreds of weapons, overrunning rebel camps and claiming to have cut the rebels' strength in the area from 600 to 350 fighters.

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Uribe Widely Seen As Tough-Minded

BOGOTA, Colombia -- To hear his critics tell it, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe ought to be in trouble.

The foundation of his mandate, a promise to tame this nation's unrelenting civil war, is tottering. Attacks by leftist rebels have surged since the beginning of the year, and hundreds of soldiers have died.

Accusations of cronyism and nepotism have dogged his administration, while unemployment and poverty remain stubborn challenges throughout the country. Cocaine continues to be a major export.

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The Flow Of Drugs To The U.S. Raises Questions About The Two Nations' War Against Narcotics

CARTAGENA, Colombia - Every few days or so, a speedboat laden with a ton or two of cocaine launches from somewhere along this country's jagged Caribbean coastline, headed for a rendezvous in deeper waters.

There, the precious cargo gets transferred to a nondescript fishing vessel, which smuggles it into a port in Mexico, Haiti or elsewhere. Then the shipment hitches another ride, by sea or land, to its final destination: the streets of Los Angeles, New York and other U.S. cities, where it fetches about $100 per gram.

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The Colombian government plans to spray the country's national parks with herbicide to rid them of the raw material for cocaine despite protests from environmental groups.

Interior Minister Sabas Pretelt said spraying the parks would save them from destruction at the hands of drug smugglers, who the government says damage the environment with chemicals used to make cocaine, such as sulfuric acid.

"The government's duty is not to allow our nature reserves to be wiped out by these ecological criminals," Pretelt told reporters.

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Colombia Joins Trade

Once shuttled into New England from Burma, Thailand or Afghanistan, a cheaper, purer heroin is now being sent to the Hub from Colombia via established cocaine trafficking routes, drug enforcement agents say. "They had routes they used for cocaine and just like any other organization, if it was successful, why not use it for another drug," said Tony Pettigrew, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration's New England Field Division. While drug enforcement agents say there is no single heroin trafficking route, smack typically makes its way to Massachusetts through Florida and then New York City.

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Authorities In Colombian Made One Of Their Biggest Cocaine Busts To Date, Uncovering 3.9 Tons In A Former Diaper Warehouse

BOGOTA - Dozens of heavily armed troops stormed a former diaper warehouse in a residential Bogota neighborhood, seizing 3.9 tons of cocaine in one of the biggest drug hauls ever in the Colombian capital, officials said Thursday.

Three suspects were arrested during the overnight raid on the unmarked building where the drugs were stashed, said Gen. Gustavo Matamoros, commander of the Army's Bogota-based 13th Brigade. He said the drugs have an estimated U.S. street price of $80 million.

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BOGOTA, Colombia - Singers decked out in glitzy Western suits sing of the lives and violent deaths of this country's drug kingpins, paying homage to some of the most infamous killers in a land scarred by bloodshed.

The country's "forbidden rhythms" music - sometimes called "narco-rhythms" - is a fast-growing genre that draws inspiration from the cocaine trade, a five-decade civil war and Colombia's high murder rate.

One popular tune is The Toad, slang for an informer. It's the musical lament of a drug lord who enjoys money, respect and women before he's ratted out and goes to jail. "Watch out, because when I get out, I'll be looking for you," singer Rey Fonseca croons.

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Colombian congressmen are not only using cocaine but buying it in the Congress building, a senior Colombian senator has claimed.

Although selling cocaine is illegal in Colombia, possession of small doses for personal use is not.

"I know names of people who distribute cocaine here in Congress," Senator Edgar Artunduaga told local RCN television.

"There are important officials who distribute and senators and representatives who consume," said Mr Artunduaga, who is deputy speaker of the Senate.

Asked whether he would name names, the senator said: "I'm thinking about doing that, with the concern that a number of members of Congress will have to testify to the authorities."

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BOGOTA - (AP) -- Colombian lawmakers use cocaine at work and the drug is being sold within the halls of Congress, the Senate vice president said Thursday, disclosing details of an investigation that uncovered serious security breaches.

"Biscuit sellers, shoe sellers, astrologers and marijuana and cocaine dealers. All enter Congress," Sen. Edgar Artunduaga said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. Artunduaga, however, refused to name lawmakers he said were using cocaine. He noted that it's legal to possess small amounts of marijuana, cocaine or heroin for personal use. "But I will denounce the [drug] dealers to authorities," he said, describing some of them as "middle-ranking officials."

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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.

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BOGOTA, Colombia -- U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Wednesday hailed an extradition pact that has sent hundreds of Colombians to the United States for trial, saying that no drug trafficker is beyond the reach of U.S. justice.

Gonzales, in the first visit in five years by the top U.S. law enforcement official, said extradition was critical in combating drug trafficking and the outlawed armed groups that control the trade.

"The extradition relationship that we have in Colombia is the very best in the world," Gonzales said at a joint news conference with his Colombian counterpart, Mario Iguaran.

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For Decades, Colombia's Shadowy FARC Rebel Group Was Suspected Of Drug-Trade Activity. Now, Though, Colombian And Foreign Authorities Are Arresting Rebels In Trafficking Cases.

BOGOTA - As far as drug busts go, this one was huge: seven tons of cocaine found in a small underground compartment at the rear of a farmhouse in central Venezuela.

But as important as the drugs were the armbands also found at the site last year -- from the 16th Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

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Despite Sending Army Reinforcements To A Southern Province Where Farc Guerrillas Have Declared An 'Armed Strike,' Colombia's Government Is Having Trouble Regaining Control

ORITO, Colombia -- Red and orange flames engulfed the 80-foot trees and rolled down a hill toward the small stream that passed through a hamlet. A plume of black smoke snaked toward the sky.

Celimo Solano said he ran from the nearby farm where he was working to see if his house had been caught up in the oil fire after leftist guerrillas blew up a 12-inch pipeline. It had not, but the rebels urged the 61-year old Solano and his wife to move away for their own safety.

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The Colombian Air Force Airlifted In Food Amid The FARC Rebels' Blockade In The Strife-Torn State Of Putumayo, Where A Lack Of Supplies Is Growing Critical

PUERTO ASIS, Colombia - No gasoline. No electricity. No running water. For more than a week, residents of this ramshackle city have been living in fear and deprivation since rebels declared the state of Putumayo in southern Colombia a no-drive zone and began blowing up bridges, electrical towers and oil production facilities.

As the crisis deepened, a Colombian Air Force C-130 on Thursday airlifted out 82 stranded civilians from Puerto Asis -- Putumayo's main city -- after ferrying in 12 tons of food.

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Rebels Declare Southern State No-Drive Zone

PUERTO ASIS (AP) -No gasoline. No electricity. No running water. This ramshackle city has been living in fear and deprivation since Colombian rebels declared the southern state of Putumayo a no-drive zone just over a week ago and began blowing up bridges, electrical towers and oil production facilities.

With shortages worsening in the region, a Colombian air force C-130 ferried in 12 tons of food Thursday and then flew out at night carrying 82 civilians who had been stranded in Puerto Asis, the state's main city.

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Coast Guard Cutter Patrols Off Colombia For Cocaine

Aboard the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Gallatin, off the coast of Colombia - -- Deep blue water churns on all sides, its movement as constant and unpredictable as the drug smugglers this ship is here to track.

"I bet they tarp tonight," one crewman said, referring to a technique in which smugglers toss large tarpaulins over their speedboats to prevent detection.

It's been a week since the Coast Guard cutter intercepted a "lancha rapida," known to the crew as a "go-fast boat." That boat's four occupants now are handcuffed to a railing on the Gallatin's lower deck, and the 4,000 pounds of cocaine they were transporting from Colombia to Mexico is locked in a cargo hold.

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BOGOTA, Colombia - Police captured a suspected leader of a drug cartel believed to have trafficked half the cocaine sold in the United States in the 1990s, officials said yesterday.

Commandos acting on a tip seized Jose Aldemar Rendon as he was jogging Thursday outside Medellin, Colombia's second largest city about 250 kilometres northwest of the capital, said police Col. Jaime Gutierrez.

Mr. Rendon, accused of being a leader of the Norte del Valley cartel, was on a list of alleged cocaine kingpins sought by U.S. authorities under a court order handed down in New York. The U.S. government offered up to $5 million reward for his capture.

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The Colombian Rebel Group FARC Has Extended Its Operations Beyond Its Country's Borders And Is Involved In Politics As Well As A Range Of Illegal Activities

BOGOTA - A series of recent arrests around Latin America have revealed that the FARC, Colombia's oldest and largest leftist guerrilla group, is involved in everything from political lobbying to kidnappings and drug and weapons trafficking.

The discovery of links that allegedly are focused in Venezuela but extend from Argentina to Mexico has created new worries in Colombia, its immediate neighbors and other parts of Latin America.

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BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Leftist rebels killed at least 25 soldiers in separate clashes Saturday in Colombia, the highest number of deaths in a single day for the military since President Alvaro Uribe came to power three years ago on pledges of crushing the guerrillas. Another 18 soldiers were reported missing.

Fighting broke out in southwestern Putumayo state when as many as 300 rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, ambushed an army convoy during an attack targeting several nearby oil wells, said Gen. Carlos Lemus, inspector general of the army.

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