Pubdate: Wed, 22 Apr 1998 Source: Seattle-Times (WA) Contact: http://seattletimes.com/ Author: Douglas Farah, The Washington Post U.S. TEACHES PERU TO PLUG RIVER OF DRUGS IQUITOS, Peru - As Seaman Walter Fitzgerald gunned his Boston Whaler boat out into the Amazon and gently pulled alongside a floating dock as if approaching another vessel, he kept up a steady stream of talk to his Peruvian counterparts, explaining each step in nearly flawless Spanish. Nearby, on land, Warrant Officer Marc Shifanelli crouched in the thick jungle underbrush, demonstrating to a group of Peruvian police how to conduct small-unit patrols, including how to carry their AK-47 assault rifles, with constant reminders not to "aim at anything you don't want to destroy." Fitzgerald, a U.S. Navy SEAL, and Shifanelli, of the U.S. Army Special Forces, are part of a group of 30 specialized American military instructors implementing one of the most ambitious counterdrug programs the Pentagon has ever undertaken in Latin America. Growing U.S. Role Special forces from the Army, Navy and Marines are training and equipping a specialized Peruvian counterdrug unit that would operate on water and land to cut off the growing flow of cocaine that makes its way from Peru to Colombia on the Amazon, and then on to the United States and Europe. Of the 30 trainers, 15 are Navy SEALs, 9 are with the Army's Special Forces, 4 are Marines and 2 are with the Coast Guard. All speak Spanish competently. The river training program, begun last month and estimated to cost $60 million over the next five years, underscores the growing U.S. role in Peru, a country that is scheduled to receive about $110 million in U.S. aid this year, one of the largest amounts in the hemisphere. While the United States has long been involved in counterdrug activities around Latin America, the U.S. military mission in Peru is unprecedented, according to U.S. and Peruvian officials. In addition to the involvement of the military, U.S. officials said, the CIA is slated to provide the Peruvian trainees - drawn from the country's navy, marines and anti-drug police - with specialized training. "This is our most robust effort in terms of the actions we have been involved in, in terms of people and resources," said Lt. Col. Byron Conover, spokesman for the U.S. Southern Command, which is responsible for U.S. military programs in Latin America. "Our role is a supporting one, but a very robust supporting one." U.S. officials acknowledge that the trainers face some risk operating in this area, once a designated "red zone" where Marxist rebels operated. Now, however, the main threat is seen as coming from drug traffickers, so the trainers are not allowed to participate directly in counterdrug missions. Success Against Trafficking The river course, which graduated its first class of 63 on April 4, not only marks a new level of involvement for the U.S. military in anti-drug efforts in the Andean region, which produces the world's cocaine supply. It also indicates a significant shift in allocating resources to combat the way traffickers have altered the routes they use to get coca paste to Colombia, where it is made into cocaine hydrochloride. The American trainers here supplement a force of 35 U.S. troops permanently stationed at one of the region's most important radar bases, located a few minutes down the river from the training center. Built in 1996, the heavily fortified radar installation, surrounded by sandbags, barbed wire and the latest motion-detection sensors, is an important link in helping the Peruvian air force track flights across the region. The two bases form the heart of U.S.-Peruvian intelligence cooperation, which both sides say has led to Peru having more success against drug trafficking than any other country in the region. A key reason the United States is willing to share drug intelligence with the Peruvian navy and air force, when it largely declines to do so in other countries, such as Colombia and Mexico, is the lack of corruption, U.S. officials said.