Pubdate: Fri, 24 Aug 2001
Source: Financial Times (UK)
Section: Africa & The Americas; Pg 6
Copyright: The Financial Times Limited 2001
Contact:  http://www.ft.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/154
Author: James Wilson

BUSH FACES DEAD END OVER COLOMBIA'S WAR ON COCAINE

There Are Few Clues As To What Anti-Narcotics Policy The President Will 
Follow Regarding Latin America, Says James Wilson

On taking office, George W. Bush declared Latin America to be one of the 
priorities of his presidency.

Seven months later there are still few clues as to how his administration 
will handle one of the biggest challenges it has inherited in the region: 
anti-narcotics policy and in particular the problems of Colombia, the 
world's biggest exporter of cocaine.

Colombia, also a significant heroin source, is struggling with economic 
decline and the growing power of its armed factions, to the extent that 
more alarmist voices think there is a serious risk of its democracy being 
completely undermined. That could further destabilise the Andean region and 
stimulate drug production - creating a serious challenge to the US.

The current US response was defined by Bill Clinton, who last year won 
congressional approval for a Dollars 1.3bn (Pounds 600m) anti-drug package, 
mainly for Colombia. This "Plan Colombia" aid mixed military hardware, to 
help the Colombian army wipe out drug fields, with funds to "strengthen 
democracy" and coax drug-growing peasants to plant other crops. Herbicide 
spraying is being used to attack large coca plantations, with the aim of 
reducing drug supply to the US.

This year Mr Bush asked Congress for a further Dollars 731m of aid for 
Colombia and its neighbours in a plan called the Andean Counter Drug 
Initiative. It softens the edges of the Clinton plan, giving more funds to 
Colombia's neighbours to help buttress them against problems "spilling 
over", but does not substantially change the policy's anti-drug thrust.

Yet there is growing unease in the US Congress and elsewhere that the 
existing approach will not work. Critics say Mr Bush's government will soon 
have to confront the reality that a change of focus is required. A 
high-level State Department delegation is scheduled to travel to Colombia 
at the end of next week to meet President Andres Pastrana. But there is no 
consensus over which direction policy should take. A recent report by the 
Rand Corporation, sponsored by the US Air Force, argued Washington should 
end its exclusively counter-narcotics focus in Colombia and be prepared to 
give more aid to counter-insurgency efforts.

Others warn of becoming embroiled in Colombia's messy civil conflict and 
argue for a less militarily-led approach.

"What you are seeing is frustration and profound questions about what we 
are doing and whether we know what we are getting into," says Michael 
Shifter, a senior fellow with the Inter-American Dialogue policy centre in 
Washington.

Mr Shifter says Colombia is a challenge for a Bush team characterised by 
two contradictory traits. "It sees things in terms of a threat. But at the 
same time there is a reluctance to get involved: the reflex is to pull back."

In July the House of Representatives approved Mr Bush's Andean aid request 
but cut it by Dollars 55m. A Senate committee then cut funding further to 
Dollars 567m.

Some House members advocated a redirection of funds into global health 
programmes - believing the militarisation of the drugs war in Colombia is 
fuelling a human rights crisis.

"The purely military solution is a dead-end solution," says John Olver, a 
Democrat representative who recently visited Colombia.

But supporters want to give Plan Colombia more time to work. Luis Alberto 
Moreno, Colombia's ambassador to the US, says: "Everyone knows it is for 
the long run. No one expects a quick fix here."

Vast areas of Colombia's drug crops have been sprayed with herbicide this 
year, even though most of the military equipment has yet to arrive. The 
rate of growth of the coca fields - estimated to cover 163,000 hectares in 
Colombia - is said to be slowing.

The US-backed aerial spraying is generating opposition within Colombia and 
internationally for being badly targeted. Klaus Nyholm, representative in 
Colombia and Ecuador for the UN's Drug Control Programme, says spraying of 
subsistence farmers' crops has occurred. This, he says, is "inhumane" and 
does not work; "peasants will retreat into the jungle and keep growing 
drugs." Environmental damage is another worry. The UNDCP has not been told 
what chemicals are being used in the spraying and is calling for 
international monitoring.

Coca fields are appearing across the Colombian border in Ecuador, 
suggesting growers are moving to avoid the spraying. "It is a worrying 
sign," says Mr Nyholm.

Regional governors in Colombia's main drug areas may also step up action 
against the spraying, which could spark more unrest.

Gina Amatangelo, Colombia fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America, 
says: "Both Democrats and Republicans are emphasising the importance of 
alternative development. The message has got across that we cannot fumigate 
without adequate development programmes in place."

Mr Bush has sent conflicting signals about his own feelings on the drugs 
war. He has pleased his Colombian allies by recognising the need to curb US 
demand for drugs.

Mr Moreno says: "(Mr Bush) has been in front saying, 'This is a US problem, 
we are creating it, we have a responsibility'. They really feel and believe 
it. I don't think they will go back to saying 'It's your fault'."

Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary, has also talked of drugs as a demand 
problem.

"I don't think anyone is coming close to the real issue," says William 
Ratliff, a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford 
University. He favours decriminalisation of narcotics, saying: "We have to 
take the money out of it."
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MAP posted-by: Beth