PURACE, Colombia -- When the guerrillas came to destroy this little town, Jhimmy Guaua was there to stop them. The musician and member of an indigenous band left his simple whitewashed home with weapon in hand: his flute. Soon, nearly everyone in town had joined him in the main square. They chanted. They sang. They waved white flags and told the guerrillas to leave. The New Year's Eve uprising didn't succeed. When the rebels left a few hours later, several buildings were in ruins. Two police officers had been killed. And Guaua was dead. [continues 1008 words]
Latin America: Officials Report A Drop In Coca Crop Acreage, While The CIA Says The Figure Rose Again Last Year. BOGOTA, Colombia -- The amount of cocaine being produced in Colombia dropped significantly last year, anti-narcotics officials announced Thursday, making a controversial claim to success in the joint U.S.-Colombia drug war. An aggressive U.S.-backed fumigation program resulted in the elimination of about 46,000 acres of coca plants, the source of cocaine, according to a detailed satellite analysis performed under U.N. and Colombian auspices. That would be an 11% decline. [continues 959 words]
Thousands of Colombians have been slain as rebels and paramilitary groups assert their control. PURACE, Colombia -- When the guerrillas came to destroy this little town, Jhimmy Guauna was there to stop them. The musician and member of an indigenous band left his simple whitewashed home with weapon in hand: his flute. Soon, nearly everyone in town had joined him in the main square. They chanted. They sang. They waved white flags and told the guerrillas to leave. The New Year's Eve uprising did not succeed. When the rebels left a few hours later, several buildings were in ruins. Two police officers had been killed. And Guauna was dead. Medical workers said a single bullet had passed through his throat, silencing the singer, painter and aspiring lawyer. Whether stray round or deliberate shot, the townspeople got the message: Next time, let the guerrillas win. [continues 1882 words]
It's that time of year again when Americans like to fly to the warm beaches of Florida to see parents, grandparents and other relatives with nice condominiums. Among such eager travelers is the president of the United States, who enjoys frequent trips to see his brother the governor, Jeb Bush. "I'm really happy to visit Florida," President Bush said in Orlando recently. "The weather's beautiful. There's a lot of interesting things to do here. I recommend people from outside of Florida to come and take a look at Florida. It's a nice place to visit and a great place to live. One reason why is because you've got a great governor. I'm not very objective!" [continues 815 words]
PORTLAND, Me. -- President Bush said today that he would propose spending $11 billion next year to protect the United States' land, sea and air borders from terrorist attacks. The president's proposal, an increase of more than $2 billion from the current budget for border security, is to pay for more customs inspectors, more border patrol agents, technology that will more quickly inspect shipments into the United States and a new system that will track the arrival and departure of people who are not American citizens. [continues 664 words]
AMidwest City businessman, who apparently planned to spend a long weekend on his houseboat moored at Lake Murray, is behind bars instead, facing pending child pornography, drugs and weapons charges. Philip Lyon, 56, was arrested by park rangers and District Attorney Task Force agents Thursday afternoon when he attempted to board his $55,000-plus boat at the lake's marina. Lyon was taken into custody without incident. He was transported to the county jail where he was booked pending the filing of formal charges. [continues 463 words]
The first high-level Bush administration visit to Colombia wrapped up Friday amid the most serious crisis in the peace process here since the effort started anew nearly three years ago. U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman headed a who's who delegation of government Andean specialists for three days of meetings with top Colombian officials and a look at U.S.-backed drug-eradication efforts. Grossman said the visit was part of an administration review of Plan Colombia, the U.S.-financed initiative to reduce by half the production of illegal drugs in two years. It also served to send a message to those who have criticized the administration for disengaging from foreign affairs: The U.S. cares. "Colombia matters to the United States," Grossman repeatedly told a news conference. [continues 550 words]
BOGOTA, Colombia -- The first high-level Bush administration visit to Colombia ended Friday amid the most serious crisis in the peace process here since the effort started anew nearly three years ago. U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman headed a delegation of government Andean specialists for three days of meetings with top Colombian officials and a tour of U.S.-backed drug- eradication efforts. Grossman said the visit was part of an ongoing administration review of Plan Colombia, the U.S.-financed initiative to reduce by half the production of illegal drugs in five years. [continues 249 words]
BOGOTA, Colombia - The U.S. State Department has directed its largest private contractor in Colombia to hire foreign pilots to fight the drug war, an order that helps get around Congress' attempt to keep the United States from slipping further into this country's messy civil war. Last year, Congress limited to 300 the number of civilian contract workers participating in U.S.-financed drug-eradication efforts in Colombia. But in a little-noticed decision, the State Department has counted only U.S. citizens toward that limit. [continues 513 words]
Colombia: The State Department Is Accused Of Circumventing Attempts By Congress To Limit Washington's Role In The Latin Nation's Civil Strife. BOGOTA, Colombia -- The State Department has directed its largest private contractor in Colombia to hire foreign pilots to fight the drug war, an order that helps get around Congress' attempt to keep the U.S. from slipping further into this country's messy civil war. Last year, Congress limited to 300 the number of civilian contract workers participating in U.S.-financed drug-eradication efforts in Colombia. But in a little-noticed decision, the State Department only counts U.S. citizens toward that limit. [continues 1191 words]
Foreigners Fly For U.S. In Colombia BOGOTA, Colombia -- The U.S. State Department has directed its largest private contractor in Colombia to hire foreign pilots to fight the drug war, an order that helps get around Congress' attempt to keep the United States from slipping further into the country's messy civil war. Last year, Congress limited to 300 the number of civilian contract workers participating in U.S.-financed drug-eradication efforts in Colombia. But in a little-noticed decision, the State Department has counted only U.S. citizens toward that limit. [continues 406 words]
ARAUCA, Colombia -- President Andres Pastrana has signed a sweeping new security law that human rights groups fear will open the door to torture, arbitrary detention and increased military control in Colombia. The measure, passed under intense pressure from hard-line elements within the nation's Congress, gives the military broad powers to combat leftist insurgents. It was signed Monday, although Pastrana's office announced the action Thursday. The law comes on top of other recent developments, including the resignations under pressure of several top prosecutors, that have prompted concern about an erosion in Colombia's commitment to human rights. [continues 370 words]
Congress Limits The Number Of Civilians Involved In Colombia; The State Department Uses A Different Method BOGOTA, Colombia -- The U.S. State Department has directed its largest private contractor in Colombia to hire foreign pilots to fight the drug war, an order that helps get around Congress' attempt to keep the United States from slipping further into this country's messy civil war. Last year, Congress limited to 300 the number of civilian contract workers participating in U.S.-financed drug-eradication efforts in Colombia. But in a little-noticed decision, the State Department has counted only U.S. citizens toward that limit. [continues 850 words]
Latin America: Men From European Guerrilla Group Allegedly Provided Explosives Training To Leftist FARC Rebels. BOGOTA, Colombia -- In a danger sign for peace talks on two continents, three members of the Irish Republican Army were being held here Monday after allegedly providing explosives training to Colombia's largest leftist rebel group. Military officials said the three men were captured at the airport in Bogota on Saturday after spending five weeks in the demilitarized zone in southern Colombia where the government is negotiating with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. [continues 635 words]
Colombian Troops Would Be Used To Fight Narcotics Trafficking BOGOTA, Colombia -- The United States is planning to expand its training role in Colombia, instructing military units to fight drugs in parts of the country where leftist guerrillas are becoming increasingly involved in narco-trafficking, according to the top U.S. official in the country. So far, the United States has focused its training efforts on three special counter-narcotics battalions that operate in southern Colombia, the source of nearly half the cocaine sold in the United States. [continues 382 words]
BOGOTA, Colombia -- The United States is planning to expand its training role in Colombia, instructing military units to fight drugs in parts of the country where leftist guerrillas are becoming increasingly involved in narcotics trafficking, the top U.S. official in the country said Wednesday. So far, the U.S. has focused its training efforts on three special counter-narcotics battalions that operate in southern Colombia, the source of nearly half the cocaine sold in the United States. But a plan under consideration by American Ambassador Anne W. Patterson calls for the U.S. to begin training additional Colombian army units to take down drug labs protected by leftist insurgents elsewhere in the war-torn nation. [continues 1016 words]
Conflict: Ignored by the state and the U.S.-backed Plan Colombia, eastern Antioquia has been left to die at the hands of rival factions. LA QUIEBRA, Colombia--It is late on a Monday afternoon, and there is nobody in sight. The whitewashed health clinic is shuttered. Weeds and wildflowers swarm over a row of crumbling homes. The cheery signs plastered across the front of the school--"Honor," "Respect," "Love"--hang over shattered windows. La Quiebra is a ghost town, one of about a dozen hamlets deserted after violence descended like a scythe on eastern Antioquia state in recent months and cleared the remote and mountainous region of much of its population. [continues 1620 words]
Colombia: About 700 Troops Will Join The Campaign That Has Taken A Toll On Coca. Critics See Stability Of U.S. Cocaine Prices As A Sign Of Failure. LARANDIA, Colombia--After surviving months of grueling training by U.S. Green Berets, about 700 Colombian soldiers graduated Thursday to join one of the most successful crusades against cocaine cultivation in history. Since December, when the intensive fumigation supported by U.S.-backed Plan Colombia began, nearly a quarter of this country's known coca crops has been wiped out. More than 200 drug labs have been destroyed. And the military and police have suffered only a handful of casualties. [continues 1151 words]
Paramilitary Fighters Stormed Through Colombian Guerrilla Territory, Stopping Only To Slaughter. At Least 27 Civilians Died. The Armed Forces Seemed Powerless. On the Naya River, Colombia --The killers came at Easter. They butchered 18-year-old Gladys Ipia first, slicing off her head and hands with a chain saw. Next, they killed six people at a restaurant just down the trail. They shot some, stabbed others. They hacked one man to death and then burned him. And so they traveled, 200 men and teens belonging to Colombia's largest ultra-right paramilitary group, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. [continues 3277 words]
LARANDIA, COLOMBIA -- A brilliant blue butterfly the size of a wren drifted through the jungle clearing. The Colombian general dropped his voice to a whisper. "At this moment, we can't see them or hear them. But they are only 50 meters away from us now," he said. Suddenly, with a shout, the area turned into a war zone. The men in the clearing, seemingly busy at work in a cocaine lab, dropped to their knees and began firing. A percussion grenade exploded with a skin-shaking thump. Men in camouflage uniforms with greasepaint on their faces stormed from their hiding places, machine guns rattling. [continues 754 words]
Narcotics: U.S. Training Expands To Include Targeting Labs And Bracing For Battle With Rebels. LARANDIA, Colombia--A brilliant blue butterfly the size of a wren drifted through the jungle clearing. The Colombian general dropped his voice to a whisper. "At this moment, we can't see them or hear them. But they are only 50 meters [55 yards] away from us now," he said. Suddenly, with a shout, the area turned into a war zone. The men in the clearing, seemingly busy at work in a cocaine lab, dropped to their knees and began firing. A percussion grenade exploded with a skin-shaking thump. Men in camouflage uniforms with greasepaint on their faces stormed from their hiding places, machine guns rattling. [continues 827 words]
As Colombia's FARC Guerrillas Delve Deeper Into The Cocaine Trade, The U.S. Finds It Increasingly Difficult To Fight Narcotics While Staying Out Of The Country's Civil Conflict. BARRANCOMINAS, Colombia--From this island of bars and brothels gripped by dark green jungle, you can see the nightmare rising in Colombia. Here, in a remote corner of the rain forest, the army has broken up what was once a cocaine paradise. There were no cops, no military, no government. The drug labs ran day and night. Coke was currency, with a gram buying a cold beer flown in from faraway Bogota. [continues 2232 words]
Manhunt: Drug Lord 'Fernandinho' Is Captured After A Brief Standoff With Troops. His Plane Was Forced Down 2 Days Earlier. BOGOTA, Colombia--Brazil's biggest drug trafficker was captured deep in the Amazon jungle Saturday after a two-month manhunt, a Colombian military spokesman said. Luiz Fernando da Costa was caught following a brief standoff two days after he attempted to flee the region in a private Cessna 206 that was forced down in the middle of the jungle by the Colombian air force. [continues 651 words]
Bogata, Colombia - There are plenty of ways to interpret "Traffic," the Oscar-winning, labyrinthine drug war docudrama film. But in Colombia, where the film was just released, one stands out: vindication. Few countries have done as much to fight drugs, with less recognition for the effort, than Colombia. Three presidential candidates, dozens of judges and hundreds of police officers have been killed in the largely U.S.-backed war on drugs. Nevertheless, Colombians complain that they are seen abroad as a nation of drug dealers, corrupt politicians and violent thugs. [continues 444 words]
Millions In Recent Years Have Fled The Violence In Their War-Torn Nation. The Rich Relocate To Places Like Miami And Madrid. For The Poor, Internal Exile And Misery Are The Norm. CAZUCA, Colombia--In this slum outside Bogota, Jose Donato lives in a tin shack overlooking a quarry that spews dust on his home all day like a light, poisonous rain. Fifteen hundred miles away, Fernando Gonzalez Pacheco, one of Colombia's most beloved talk show hosts, sleeps safe at night in a Miami condo complex with a pool and tennis courts. [continues 1883 words]
BOGOTA, Colombia--There are plenty of ways to interpret "Traffic," the labyrinthine drug war docudrama with five Oscar nominations. But in Colombia, where the film was just released, one stands out: vindication. Few countries have done as much to fight drugs, with less recognition for the effort, than Colombia. Three presidential candidates, dozens of judges and hundreds of police officers have been killed in the largely U.S.-backed war on drugs. Nevertheless, Colombians complain that they are seen abroad as a nation of drug dealers, corrupt politicians and violent thugs. [continues 656 words]
Phoenix Suns forward Clifford Robinson admitted to Scottsdale police that he had smoked marijuana and had been drinking beer during the evening of his arrest. According to a police report released Tuesday, Robinson said he'd had a couple of beers when a police officer smelled alcohol on the basketball star's breath and asked whether he had been drinking. Robinson was pulled over early Monday after his 2001 Porsche was observed weaving between traffic lanes in the 6600 block of East Shea Boulevard. [continues 190 words]
Law has to be made workable and effective so hurting patients who need marijuana can get it What Hawaii legislators need to know, as they consider the medical marijuana bills now before them, is that medical use of cannabis is already permitted under Hawaii law. The current bills will not establish any radical new legal rights. But they will make existing Hawaii law and legal rights workable for the very sick and debilitated patients who need marijuana to ease their suffering. [continues 886 words]
I presume that the U.S. Justice Department is going to investigate a possible violation of Barbara Harris' civil rights, namely her right to freedom of speech, when those protesters tore down her billboard. I also presume that local law enforcement agencies will look into prosecution of these individuals for acts of malicious mischief. At the very least, they should be required to pay treble damages for the cost of the destruction. This act of protest ranks right up there with bombing abortion clinics. Norman S. Miller San Jose [end]
Richard Fekete, the alcoholic federal agent who faced life in prison on murder charges after shooting a fellow agent in a drunken stupor, pleaded guilty Friday to a lesser charge of manslaughter, two weeks before his trial was to begin. Fekete, 57, a veteran Drug Enforcement Administration agent, had planned to use an "insanity by intoxication" defense to explain his actions the night of Dec. 12, 1997, when he shot agent Shaun Edmond Curl nine times with a 9mm pistol as Curl drove him home from a Christmas party. [continues 591 words]
Until I read the story "The Life and Death of Ben: how our drug laws have killed him" (The Age, 9/1), I was not sure that legalising hard drugs was such a good idea; I am now convinced that it is the only way to go. I fear, however, that because it is indeed that simple our decision-makers might not be able to grasp it, and that this mother's wish will not be answered for a while. No expert's opinion or a number of well-intended and well-researched reports managed to do what this ordinary mother did: tell the common person of the drug problem and its simple solution. [continues 139 words]
