Pubdate: Mon, 17 Apr 2006
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Copyright: 2006 News World Communications, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author: Jerry Seper

'GO-FAST' BOATS SLIP BY ANTI-DRUG EFFORT

Tons of cocaine are being transported daily by Colombian drug 
traffickers to smuggling partners in Mexico bound for the United 
States and, according to senior Latin American intelligence analysts, 
only about 20 percent is being intercepted. While one northbound 
"go-fast" boat is being stopped every day in the eastern Pacific or 
the Caribbean by the Colombian navy -- each carrying an average of 
three tons of cocaine worth about $75 million on the street -- the 
analysts said during an interview last week that as many as four 
others may be slipping through the "transit zone" daily. An expanded 
pool of marine patrol aircraft, they said, could increase by more 
than threefold the interdiction of drug smugglers headed north and 
those returning south with millions of dollars in illicit profits -- 
much of it for use by the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of 
Colombia to buy weapons in its war against the Colombian government. 
The lack of maritime patrol aircraft and the increased reliance of 
surface vessels, they said, has limited Colombia's ability to target 
the go-fast boats, most of which travel at night at speeds greater 
than 60 mph. Colombia is the source for about 90 percent of the 
cocaine that ends up each year in the United States. The war of 
terrorism and a Bush administration decision to divert resources 
elsewhere has left the fight against drugs mainly to the Colombian 
navy and the Colombian National Police. "We are at a critical moment 
in Colombia," said four Republican House committee and subcommittee 
chairmen in a recent letter seeking additional funding for Colombian 
drug-interdiction efforts. "After five years of Plan Colombia, we are 
finally seeing success in our war of drugs ... But we cannot rest on 
our laurels.

The capabilities of the Colombian National Police are being degraded 
by a vigorous operational tempo." The letter to Rep. Jim Kolbe, 
Arizona Republican and chairman of the House Appropriations 
subcommittee on foreign operations, was signed by Reps. Henry J. Hyde 
of Illinois; Thomas M. Davis III of Virginia; Dan Burton of Indiana; 
and Mark Souder of Indiana. They are seeking $49 million in the 
fiscal 2007 foreign operations bill to replace lost aircraft for the 
Colombian National Police (CNP). "During its aggressive pursuit of 
narcoterrorists throughout Colombia, the CNP has lost a number of 
helicopters to hostile fire, mechanical failures and other causes 
related to a high operational tempo," the House members said. A 
Government Accountability Office report in November said 
interdictions in the transit zone were dropping significantly because 
of homeland security concerns in this country.

And the Bush administration diverted money for Colombian drug 
interdiction and eradication programs to the war on terrorism -- 
opening up the southern U.S. border to what analysts say is a new 
flood of cocaine.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman