The Washington Post

Tuesday, February 15, 2000

U.S. Reports Rise in Colombian Drug Activity

By Karen DeYoung

The Clinton administration launched a campaign yesterday for swift congressional approval of its massive aid package for Colombia, issuing new estimates that cultivation of coca, the raw material of cocaine, has increased 140 percent there over the past five years. Actual cocaine production was estimated to be up by 126 percent over the same period.

A full schedule of hearings on the $1.6 billion, two-year package begins today, when White House drug policy director Barry R. McCaffrey tells a House subcommittee of the new statistics, compiled from CIA satellite imagery and data collected on the ground. Administration officials said last month that Colombian drug statistics had risen sharply, but declined to provide figures.

"We have a drug emergency in Colombia," McCaffrey said yesterday. Support for the administration's plan, he said, "is critical if we are to stop the increased production in Colombia from outstripping gains made in the rest of the region."

The new statistics also indicate a continuation in dramatic decreases in coca cultivation and cocaine production over the past several years in neighboring Peru and Bolivia, where the United States claims credit for aiding government anti-drug programs. In visits to Washington last week, however, senior officials from both countries complained bitterly that they were largely left out of the funding request for Colombia and warned they may not be able to continue supporting current anti-drug efforts.

To a great extent, the sharp increase in Colombian drug production is a direct result of anti-drug success in Peru and Bolivia, as traffickers have shifted operations over the border. But the exodus of coca production out of Bolivia "can become reversible if we don't get the proper amount of help," Bolivian Vice President Jorge Quiroga said last week.

Bolivia is scheduled to receive $48 million in drug-fighting funds this year, with about the same amount budgeted for next year. Bolivia asked for twice that amount for each of the next two years, saying it was running out of money to compensate farmers who agree to substitute other crops for coca. Although firm figures are not yet available, an administration official said the new White House plan is likely to include an additional $10 million to $12 million for Bolivia.

The fight to decrease production in Colombia is likely to be much harder than in Peru and Bolivia, because heavily armed leftist guerrillas guard cultivation areas and facilitate shipments by river and aircraft in territory under their control.

Most of the administration proposal, nearly $1 billion of which is being requested in an emergency supplemental appropriation this year, is for intelligence support and military equipment. This includes 30 Black Hawk helicopters to provide tactical mobility for three 1,000-man rapid deployment forces in the Colombian army, which are being trained by the U.S. military.

The operational centerpiece of the plan is an effort to eliminate drug cultivation and processing from two states in southern Colombia, Putamayo and Caqueta, by seizing the area from the guerrillas, eradicating crops with aerial fumigation and destroying drug laboratories. Peasant growers in the area are to be assisted in switching to other crops once guerrilla-occupied areas are secured by government forces.

In introducing its emergency package last month, the administration emphasized bipartisan support for aiding Colombia. Republican leaders have said they favor a massive aid program, although they have criticized the White House for waiting so long and have claimed credit for forcing it to act.

But despite widespread agreement that action must be taken, approval of the emergency package will not be painless, and its components may change along the way. Some Republicans are gearing up to oppose the heavy emphasis on funding and equipment for the Colombian military, saying more of the total should go to the anti-drug forces of the Colombian National Police. Others on both sides of the aisle have worried publicly that the United States is heading toward another Vietnam-like quagmire with involvement in Colombia's counterinsurgency war.

Human rights, religious and union groups have sharply criticized the Colombian military's human rights performance and announced their disapproval of the aid program. They have noted that it includes nothing to combat right-wing paramilitary groups. These groups, they allege, are allied with the military and are also heavily involved in drug trafficking, even as they are held responsible for wide-ranging atrocities against civilians.

But the administration is counting on a sense of urgency, bolstered by the new statistics, to preserve most components of the package and move it to quick approval.

According to the CIA figures, Colombian coca cultivation grew from nearly 126,000 acres in 1995 to more than 300,000 acres last year, with new growing areas being developed more rapidly than massive fumigation efforts could destroy existing fields. Estimated potential cocaine production during the same period increased from 230 to 520 metric tons.

In Peru, cultivation decreased from 285,000 acres in 1995 to 96,000 acres last year, with potential cocaine production dropping from 460 to 175 metric tons. Bolivia's 1995 cultivation similarly decreased from 120,000 to 54,000 acres, with production falling from 240 to 70 metric tons.