Pubdate: Thu, 13 Jun 2002
Source: Contra Costa Times (CA)
Copyright: 2002 Knight Ridder
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Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/96
Author: Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times

COLOMBIA'S DRUG EFFORT QUESTIONED

GAO report criticizes country's failure to make use of U.S. military aid

Even as the Bush administration is lobbying to increase U.S. military aid 
to Colombia, the South American nation is failing to do its part in a joint 
military effort to combat narcotics trafficking, according to an unreleased 
congressional report.

The report, from the General Accounting Office, says Colombia has failed to 
provide military pilots for 14 U.S.-supplied Black Hawk helicopters, 
leaving the high-tech aircraft idle.

It says the country's armed forces have not supplied all the personnel 
promised for programs training pilots and mechanics, and recently cut back 
on drug crop-eradication programs because of "political concerns."

Plans for using U.S. military aid "have fallen substantially behind 
schedule, and prospects for near-term fixes are bleak," according to the 
brief report, which has not been released publicly but was provided to 
relevant congressional committees this week.

It is believed to mark the first time that a government report has faulted 
the Colombian armed forces' cooperation in Plan Colombia, the anti-drug 
effort to which the United States has committed $2 billion since 2000.

It reflects the view, held by many who advocate a stepped-up U.S. role, 
that the Andean nation must do its share if the United States is to provide 
the additional money and assistance the Colombians seek.

But those who doubt the wisdom of greater U.S. activity also are likely to 
seize on it as evidence that the three-sided fight involving left-wing 
insurgent groups, right-wing paramilitary forces and the Colombian military 
will become a quagmire for the United States.

In the short term, the report's results will add to the pressure on 
Colombia's president-elect, Alvaro Uribe, to commit greater resources to 
the battle. Uribe, who was elected last month and takes office in August, 
is to meet in Washington next week with Bush administration officials and 
congressional leaders.

Officials at the Colombian Embassy in Washington said they had not seen the 
report and were unable to comment.

The GAO report says that many U.S. officials interviewed "expressed 
frustration with the overall pace of Plan Colombia, and the lack of 
Colombian commitment to the program, and expressed interest in having GAO 
examine the status and effectiveness of U.S. counter-narcotics assistance 
to the Colombian military."

Plan Colombia called for the United States to provide 14 Black Hawk and 30 
Super Huey UH-II helicopters to transport U.S.-trained counter- narcotics 
troops to conduct anti-drug operations.

All the Black Hawks have arrived, and the Super Hueys are due before the 
end of the year.

UPDATE

25 arrested in Colombian heroin ring, authorities say: United States 
authorities said Wednesday that they had broken up a major Colombian 
drug-exporting ring that was smuggling millions of dollars worth of heroin 
each month into New York and elsewhere.

Prosecutors said that among the 25 people arrested, both in New York and 
Colombia, were the group's leader and two top aides. The extradition of the 
three to the United States is now being sought.

The arrests highlight what the authorities say has been the use of 
increasingly sophisticated smuggling techniques and the emergence of 
Colombia as a successor to Asia as the major heroin supplier to the United 
States.

In describing the new techniques, James Comey, the U.S. attorney in 
Manhattan, told of chemists working in Colombian laboratories who dissolved 
heroin into clothing that was folded and packed in suitcases and carried by 
couriers into the United States.

Then, chemists in this country extract the heroin and have it prepared for 
sale on the street, he said.

"Heroin is back in New York, and it is back with a vengeance," Comey said.

He added that, while 20 years ago, the heroin sold on the streets of New 
York came from Southwest and Southeast Asia, "The Colombian drug lords have 
branched out from cocaine and have come to dominate that traffic."

- --New York Times
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