BOGOTA, COLOMBIA -- Saying he's proud to call Colombia's scandal-weakened leader his friend, President Bush pledged Sunday to press for more aid to help the him fight drug traffickers and guerrillas and secure a trade accord for the South American nation. But even though Bush received a warm welcome from President Alvaro Uribe, the Bush administration's closest ally in Latin America, he stayed in Bogota just seven hours because of security concerns. On the streets of the capital, anti-Bush protesters clashed with riot police, looted banks and set fires, but they were kept well away from the presidential palace where the leaders conferred. [continues 521 words]
Proponents Say A Fungus Could Eradicate Crops; Skeptics Ask If It's Effective And Safe Is it a silver bullet in the war on drugs or an outlawed biological weapon? Frustrated by the nonstop flow of cocaine and heroin into the United States, some American lawmakers are promoting mycoherbicides, weed killers made from toxic, mold-like fungi that they believe could be used to eliminate illegal drug crops for good. For years, mycoherbicides had been largely written off by many U.S. officials. They were concerned the fungi could mutate to kill legitimate crops and that their use overseas would violate the United Nations' 31-year-old Biological Weapons Convention and other treaties. [continues 963 words]
Officials Say Rebel Strongholds Too Dangerous But Some Call It Choice Of Force Over Help BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - Although the southern jungles of Colombia are ground zero for the war against Marxist guerrillas and cocaine traffickers, a U.S.-backed program to persuade some of the region's drug farmers to switch to legal crops has been suspended. In southern Caqueta state, a longtime rebel stronghold, the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, has pulled out of the campaign because the region lacked economic potential and was considered too dangerous for the agency's workers, according to a Colombian government memo. [continues 667 words]
Trade Agreements Likely to Undergo Significant Revisions Bogota, Colombia -- For the past six years, Democrats have accused President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress of pursuing counterproductive policies in Latin America or of ignoring the region altogether. Now, following their victories in midterm elections giving them control of the House and Senate, many Democratic lawmakers are promising to seek subtle policy changes for the region on everything from immigration and trade to U.S. military aid. "We will be in a position to try to raise the profile of these issues," said Tim Rieser, an aide to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., poised to take the chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee's foreign operations panel. "Congress doesn't drive the ship, but it has a big role in how far it goes and in which direction." [continues 693 words]
Colombia Leader Treats Detractors As Traitors, Refuses To Debate His Rivals BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - Rather than taking the high road as he marches toward re-election, President Alvaro Uribe has come under fire for delivering a series of low blows to his detractors. Bolstered by a double-digit lead in the polls heading into next month's election, Uribe often treats his critics as traitors and acts as if a second term is his birthright, many analysts say. He has refused to take part in debates with rival candidates. He has bashed the media, provoking a sharp rebuke from Human Rights Watch. [continues 1046 words]
U.S. Downplays Negative Figures BOGOTA, Colombia -- In a blow to the United States' antidrug campaign, new White House estimates indicate that Colombia's coca crop expanded nearly 21% last year. Figures released Friday by the Office of National Drug Control Policy indicate Colombian farmers grew 355,680 acres of coca, the raw material for cocaine. That's up nearly 74,000 acres from 2004, even though U.S.-funded crop dusters destroyed record amounts of coca plants in 2005. The United States has provided Colombia with more than $4 billion, mostly in antidrug aid, since 2000 for Plan Colombia, which was supposed to cut coca cultivation by half within six years. Yet according to the new figures, more coca is being grown than when the program started. [continues 226 words]
The CIA Finds Colombian Acres Grew 21% During Eradication Effort Costing Billions BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - In a blow to the United States' anti-drug campaign here, which cost more than $4 billion, new White House estimates indicate that Colombia's coca crop expanded by nearly 21 percent last year. Figures released late Friday by the Office of National Drug Control Policy indicate Colombian farmers last year grew 355,680 acres of coca, the raw material for cocaine. That represents a jump of nearly 74,000 acres from 2004 even though U.S. funded crop-dusters destroyed record amounts of coca plants in 2005. [continues 764 words]
Front-Runner Could Be the Latest Unorthodox South American Leader In most professions, reaching the top requires a stellar track record of experience and achievement. But in Latin American politics, a barren resume can serve as a ticket to the presidential palace. The latest example may turn out to be Ollanta Humala, the front-runner heading into Peru's April 9 presidential election who is waging his first political campaign. A former lieutenant colonel, Humala led a failed military uprising in 2000 but was otherwise unknown to most Peruvians until just a few months ago. Yet Humala paints his inexperience as an endowment. [continues 1716 words]
He Champions Non-Narcotic Uses of Cash Crop Coca LA PAZ, BOLIVIA - Pointing to a bag of chalky green powder in her living room, Silvia Rivera described the substance as flour made from coca, a plant more often associated with cocaine than baking supplies. "I use it to make lasagna noodles," said Rivera, a drug-policy adviser to Evo Morales, the leftist poised to become Bolivia's next president. "They're scrumptious." With Rivera's help, Morales hopes to radically change the nature of the drug war in Bolivia, the source of 16 percent of the world's cocaine. [continues 1097 words]
Official Results Of The Presidential Race Aren't Known LA PAZ, BOLIVIA - Leftist Evo Morales, a fierce critic of Washington who campaigned on a platform of radical change, seemed headed for a huge victory in Bolivia's presidential contest Sunday after his main opponent conceded defeat. According to "quick counts," or ballot samplings, commissioned by four Bolivian TV stations, Morales received about 51 percent of the vote compared with about 30 percent for former President Jorge Quiroga, who ran second. "We have a responsibility to change Bolivia's history," Morales -- who has vowed to roll back the U.S.-funded drug war here and hike taxes on foreign energy companies -- said in a rousing victory speech. "We must get rid of the neo-liberal (economic) model and our status as a colony." [continues 756 words]
More Than 4,000 Have Died at Hands of Police in Violent Cycle RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - The pop-pop-pop of firecrackers filled the air. But this was no party. To warn drug dealers of a police sweep, youngsters employed as lookouts in this sprawling Rio de Janeiro slum lit string after string of fireworks. Moments later, five officers waving automatic rifles charged down the crowded main street. As they ducked for cover, fruit vendors and taxi drivers seemed more spooked by the cops than the criminals. [continues 1668 words]
White House Says Cocaine Levels Are Down, But Some Analysts Disagree Estimates on last year's cocaine trade: South American production* White House drug office: 640 metric tons United Nations: 670 metric tons U.S. task force: 1,390 metric tons Seizures State Department: 373 metric tons Consumption White House drug office: 300 metric tons in U.S. alone. * South America provides virtually the world supply of cocaine. By U.S. and Latin American authorities. BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - As proof that the U.S.-backed drug war in South America is paying off, the Bush administration says cocaine production has plummeted by nearly 30 percent over the past three years. [continues 1234 words]
Residents Of San Onofre In Northern Colombia Accuse Paramilitary Forces Of Murdering Hundreds And Burying The Bodies On A Farm Outside Their Town. But A Propsed Bill Would Ensure That The Paramilitaries, Even If They Confess, Would Only Receive Mild Priso SAN ONOFRE, COLOMBIA - Wielding a trowel and crouched inside a 4-foot-long grave, a forensic dentist scraped dirt from the jawbone of an unidentified person believed to have been executed by paramilitaries. Noting that the foot bones lay next to the skull, the investigator said that 15 of the 16 bodies uncovered on this cattle ranch in recent weeks had been hacked to pieces, a time-saving tactic that allowed the killers to dig smaller graves. [continues 1318 words]
The Allegations of Arms Trafficking Are Latest Blow to Relations Between the Two Nations BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - Colombian police announced Wednesday that two American soldiers have been arrested in a plot to traffic ammunition, the second time in recent weeks that U.S. troops stationed here were detained on smuggling allegations. The Americans were captured Tuesday in the town of Carmen de Apicala, 56 miles southwest of Bogota, after authorities raided a condominium there and found 32,900 rounds of ammunition of various calibers, according to National Police Chief Jorge Daniel Castro. [continues 493 words]
War on Drugs May Doom Jungle Towns A Colombian Military Crackdown Is Driving Out the Villagers Along With the Coca Traders MIRAFLORES, COLOMBIA - Back when this jungle outpost was a drug-fueled boomtown ruled by Marxist rebels, cargo planes landed by the hour to unload rice, rum and chemicals to make cocaine. Cantinas and bordellos overflowed with customers. Instead of Colombian pesos, people paid bills with bags of coca paste, an unrefined form of cocaine that merchants would resell to smugglers. [continues 1001 words]
SHABASKHEIL, Afghanistan -- Slicing down rows of red and white flowers with sickles, an army of Afghan laborers laid waste to 25 acres of opium poppies in 90 minutes. That was the easy part. Deploying the low-tech drug warriors to poppy fields safe enough to destroy took three days. When the eight-bus convoy of eradicators first hit the road, a homemade bomb exploded along the route. No one was hurt, but as the workers regrouped the next day, a rocket landed 100 yards short of their rural bivouac. Rattled by the attacks, the men turned their attention to a smaller poppy crop closer to their base camp. [continues 1444 words]
BOGOTA, Colombia -- Impressed with Colombia's new government, Secretary of State Colin Powell pledged Wednesday that he would seek more U.S. aid to help underwrite this nation's war against drug traffickers and rebel groups. During his 22-hour visit to Bogota, Powell praised President Alvaro Uribe, who took office in August, for his economic, counterdrug and national security policies and said he would press U.S. lawmakers to boost an already massive assistance program for Colombia. "I would like to be able to get a lot more funding," Powell told a news conference following his 90-minute meeting with Uribe at the presidential palace. "I will try to make that case before our Congress." The U.S. government has provided Colombia -- the third-largest recipient of American aid after Israel and Egypt -- with more than $1.8 billion in mostly military assistance over the past two years. The Bush administration has requested $573 million for 2003 and recently authorized the assistance to be used against Marxist guerrillas as well as the illegal drug trade. [continues 621 words]
Despite Failures, U.S. Is Increasing Aid To Colombia LAS TRES BOCANAS, Colombia -- A little more pruning, a little more patience. That's all these chest-high coca shrubs require before their emerald-green leaves can be harvested, infused with chemicals and turned into cocaine. But time has run out for the coca crop of Edwar Moreno, who, like many Colombian peasants, helps feed the drug habits of users in the United States. A Colombian army unit trained with U.S. tax dollars has spotted Moreno's field in southern Putumayo state and told the farmer that spray planes will soon douse his three-acre plot with poisonous herbicide. [continues 2058 words]
Medellin Is Top Priority of Guerrillas MEDELLIN, Colombia -- A message about a suspicious man wandering the neighborhood crackled across the two-way radio of Roberto, an urban guerrilla with a revolver tucked under his belt. Along with two colleagues, Roberto marched off to investigate, cutting short a conversation with a visitor. Twenty minutes later, gunshots rang out and the rebels reappeared, dragging the bloody corpse of a teen-ager by the legs. Then they dumped the body into a wheelbarrow and paraded through the streets of Medellin's July 20th slum. [continues 1127 words]
But Observers Say Nation Ought To Focus On Its Own War Effort BOGOTA, Colombia -- Although the Bush administration insists that it will not send U.S. combat troops to this war-ravaged land, many Colombians seem gung-ho about the idea. Fed up with their own army's failure to crush a 38-year Marxist insurgency while watching U.S. troops deploy to Afghanistan, the Philippines and elsewhere following the Sept. 11 attacks, a growing number hope their country will be next on the list, with Marines landing on their beaches and U.S. war jets pounding rebel positions. [continues 1010 words]
