Colombia Is Making A Significant Shift In Priorities In Its War Against Drugs And Guerrillas, But Critics Wonder If It Will Be Implemented BOGOTA -- With all the hoopla surrounding President Bush's recent visit to Colombia, few seemed to notice the arrival the next day of German President Horst Kohler, on the first visit since 1971 by a German head of state. But Kohler's visit symbolized a tenuous but nevertheless significant European nod of approval for a shift in Colombia's anti-drug policy, criticized here and abroad over the years as being too much military stick and not enough economic carrots. [continues 1020 words]
The United States Is Pulling Some of Its Resources Out of a Key Battleground in the War Against Drugs. BOGOTA - After several years of trying to wean farmers from the drug trade in the conflictive southern province of Caqueta, the U.S. government is winding down its funding of alternative development programs in the region. The pullout comes amid a flurry of criticism of U.S.-backed efforts to eliminate illegal drug production in Colombia, and just before the U.S. Congress is expected to vote to continue aid for counter-drug programs in this nation of 41 million people. [continues 1017 words]
President Alvaro Uribe Has Softened His Hard-Line Rhetoric And Signaled He Wants A Prisoner Swap With Colombia's FARC Rebels -- And Perhaps Even Peace Talks BOGOTA - Despite a strong mandate validating his first four years of waging all-out war against leftist rebels, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has opted for a more peaceful beginning to his second term. Since his inauguration in August, Uribe has reached out to leaders of the hemisphere's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC, by offering to swap imprisoned rebels for kidnapped politicians, citizens and soldiers in guerrilla hands. [continues 789 words]
The area where the Lost City was built centuries ago now is home to one of the most lucrative and destructive businesses in the world: cocaine trafficking. And for a $10 fee, those who come to see the Lost City can take a detour to see the first stage of the dirty process involving gasoline and sulfuric acid, among other appetizing ingredients, that makes a simple, hard-edged leaf into a deadly and addictive powder. On my recent trip, three travelers accompanied by myself and a photographer, paid close attention to all the details, then asked questions of Adan Bedoya, a 62-year-old campesino from the Santa Marta mountain range, who showed us through the process step by step. The tourists then toyed with the ingredients and took some photos in the so-called "factory" for their parents. One of them asked Bedoya for some cocaine and was disappointed to find that Bedoya rarely has contact with "the actual stuff." [continues 69 words]
CARACAS, Venezuela - Among those pleased by efforts to end an air traffic standoff between U.S. and Venezuelan officials are undoubtedly the drug traffickers working at the Venezuelan capital's Maiquetia international airport. In the last month, the two sides have been squabbling over airline safety regulations and threatening to cancel some commercial flights. But they now seem close to working out a deal that would avert a major slowdown in air traffic between the nations and, in turn, keep business as usual for Maiquetia's drug traffickers. [continues 699 words]
Five years and $7.5 billion later, Plan Colombia is still struggling to solve the puzzle of how to shift Colombians away from illegal crops. The story of Plan Colombia -- the U.S.-funded, $7.5 billion strategy launched to smash the cocaine traffic in this country -- may be best understood by studying a project to grow an ingredient for fancy salads near this once formidable coca-growing area. Planting acres of the palm trees that produce hearts of palm was one of many projects launched under the plan in late 2000 -- a means by which the hundreds of families that grew coca, the raw material for the cocaine sold on U.S. streets, were going to make a legal living. [continues 1584 words]
Traffickers Are Using More And More Human 'Mules' To Transport Drugs BOGOTA - While news that drug traffickers used puppies to transport drugs was shocking, the number of human "mules" may be rising, according to statistics from the Colombian police and an analyst at the University of Miami. Traffickers have long employed creative methods for transporting drugs. The United States Drug Enforcement Administration revealed recently that a heroin ring used dogs to ship its product to the United States. But Colombian police said it had captured 143 "mules" in 2004 and 189 in 2005, suggesting the increased reliance of traffickers on humans to transport their drugs. All of these "mules" were trafficking drugs inside their bodies. [continues 309 words]
Venezuela Has Become the Safe Haven of Choice for Drug Traffickers On the Run From Neighboring Colombia. CARACAS - Venezuela is becoming a refuge for Colombian drug traffickers seeking to avoid capture in their neighboring homeland, according to several Venezuelan and foreign counter-drug officials. The traffickers, who include at least three top leaders of Colombia's notorious North Valley Cartel, may be taking advantage of Venezuela's limited drug cooperation with Washington amid the heated political clash between President Hugo Chavez and the Bush administration, analysts say. [continues 809 words]
Colombians Struggled to Save Their National Parks From Both Sides Of the Cocaine War, Which Rely on Toxic Chemicals That Pollute the Environment SAN FRANCISCO, Colombia - Arturo Avi is a typical small farmer in Colombia in many respects: He's a short, sun-tanned man who barely ekes out a living by growing corn, yuca, rice, raspberries -- and coca, the raw material for cocaine. Like the others, he worries about the government's massive campaign to spray herbicides on coca farms. But he's got an advantage: His plot lies inside a national park, where the aerial spraying has been prohibited for years. [continues 1114 words]
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. [continues 1358 words]
Bush Stops Short of Cutting Aid to the Nation Because Money Helps Fund Democracy Efforts WASHINGTON - President Bush has taken Venezuela off his list of allies in the war on drugs, saying that President Hugo Chavez spurned anti-drug cooperation with U.S. officials and fired its effective law enforcement officers. But the White House waived the cuts in U.S. foreign aid usually attached to the "decertification" so that it can continue to support pro-democracy groups in Venezuela that oppose the leftist Chavez. [continues 363 words]
In a Move Likely to Strain Ties Further With Hugo Chavez's Government, the White House Took Venezuela Off Its List of Allies in the War on Drugs. WASHINGTON - President Bush has taken Venezuela off his list of allies in the war on drugs, saying that the government of President Hugo Chavez spurned anti-drug cooperation with U.S. officials and fired its effective law enforcement officers. But the White House waived the cuts in U.S. foreign aid usually attached to the "decertification" so that it can continue to support Venezuelan pro-democracy groups that oppose the leftist Chavez. [continues 732 words]
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. [continues 906 words]
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. [continues 639 words]
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. [continues 1093 words]
Drug Trafficking In Venezuela Has Become A Big Problem And May Be Corrupting The Highest Levels Of Its Armed Forces BEJUMA, Venezuela - In this deceptively tranquil farming village, people still talk about the ''Bejuma massacre'' in a whisper, partly because one man who spoke out is in a grave, partly because the killers were allegedly policemen. But the source of the fear can be summed up in a single word: drug trafficking, on the kind of massive level and involving corrupt government officials that has long been a profound problem in neighboring Colombia. [continues 1039 words]
Formerly Archenemies, Colombian Right-Wing Paramilitaries and Left-Wing Guerrillas Have Put Their Differences Aside, Working Together In The Illicit-Drug Trade BOGOTA - In Colombia, drug trafficking and war can make for strange bedfellows. In recent months, U.S. and Colombian authorities have noticed an alarming amount of direct contact between right-wing paramilitary groups and left-wing guerrillas from the country's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. They are not fighting, authorities say, but working or doing business together. [continues 945 words]
CARTAGENA, Colombia -- President Bush traveled to the heart of the international cocaine trade Monday to pledge America's help in the fight against narco-terrorism. Stopping in Colombia on his way back from a 21-nation Pacific Rim summit in Chile, Bush said drug trafficking threatened the stability of the entire Western Hemisphere. He promised more U.S. aid to help Colombia fight an alliance of drug traffickers and guerrillas. "The drug traffickers who practice violence and intimidation in this country send their addictive and deadly products to the United States. Defeating them is vital to the safety of our peoples and to the stability of this hemisphere," Bush said during a joint appearance with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. [continues 596 words]
BOGOTA, Colombia - When President Bush visits Colombia today for a brief stay, there are few bigger trophies he could carry back home than the extradition order for Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela. Once the leader of the mighty Cali Cartel that controlled up to 80 percent of the world's cocaine market, Rodriguez Orejuela, 65, and brother Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, 62, are awaiting extradition to the United States to face drug trafficking charges. The extraditions would be considered a huge victory for Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. After being peppered with allegations of connections to traffickers during his presidential campaign, Uribe has made his mark with the Bush administration by cracking down on them. [continues 322 words]
Peace Talks Stop; Drug Traffickers Drug Traffickers Fearing Betrayal MIAMI - Joaquin Perez should have been focused on one thing. Perez, an attorney who graduated from the University of Massachusetts and Boston College Law School, was part of the host committee at a local fund-raiser on April 20 for Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry. His job was to make Kerry feel at home. But Perez had other serious matters to preoccupy him. Perez, who represents some of the most notorious drug traffickers in the Southern Hemisphere, was concerned about the Colombian right-wing paramilitary leader Carlos Castao. [continues 842 words]
