July 1999 News New York Times By Larry Rohter with Christopher S. Wren This Month's News | CSN Home

U.S. to Consider $1 Billion More for Colombia Drug War

BOGOTA -- Alarmed by recent advances by Colombian guerrillas who are involved in drug trafficking, the Clinton administration's top anti-drug official is asking that the United States make $1 billion in emergency assistance available to the Colombian government to strengthen its efforts against drugs.

The request by Gen. Barry McCaffrey, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, comes as Colombia's defense minister and the chief its armed forces are in Washington on an official visit. In meetings on Thursday and Friday, the Colombian military officials said they were seeking an additional $500 million in U.S. aid over the next two years.

"We are preparing modern armed forces that, if peace can be achieved, will guard our borders and natural resources," Defense Minister Luis Fernando Ramirez said on Thursday. "That is the country we dream of. But we are also preparing the armed forces for war, if need be."

In a series of attacks beginning July 8, units of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the country's principal left-wing guerrilla group, vcame within 25 miles of the capital before being driven back. On July 10, President Andres Pastrana imposed a limited curfew in 10 of Colombia's 32 provinces but has also said he plans to go ahead with peace talks with the guerrillas that are scheduled to begin on Monday.

McCaffrey's recommendation, which would dramatically increase U.S. support for Pastrana if approved, calls for $1 billion in "emergency drug supplemental" assistance for Colombia and other drug-producing countries during the fiscal year beginning in October.

The request is contained in a letter and discussion paper he sent to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Attorney General Janet Reno, copies of which were obtained by The New York Times.

State Department officials said Friday that Albright had received the letter but that no decision on the request had been made. Congressional Republicans have generally assistance for the Colombian government in drug eradication efforts and in its campaign against guerrilla groups.

Before meeting with Ramirez and Gen. Fernando Tapias in Washington Friday, McCaffrey said he would "not publicly discuss the details" of any recommendations he has made to other U.S. officials. But he made it clear that he strongly favors the Colombians' request for increased U.S. support and announced plans for a three-day visit to Colombia at the end of this month.

"Colombia is in a near-crisis situation," he said. "This is an emergency." He added that, because "criminal trafficking organizations have done serious damage to Colombian national security over the past few years," the United States has an obligation to "support the Colombian government as it attempts to reassert democratic control over its drug-producing regions."

In a briefing Thursday at the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga., Gen. Charles Wilhelm, commander-in-chief of the U.S. Southern Command, played down recent guerrilla gains. He said the insurgents "have not had a single real tactical success." But at the same time he seemed to acknowledge the Colombian military's own problems on the battlefield, saying they are "not losing" their war against the rebels.

Formally, all U.S. aid to Colombia, which produces most of the world's cocaine and most of the heroin consumed in the United States, is intended for anti-drug rather than counter-insurgency efforts. But in practical terms, the distinction is fading, as Tapias made clear Thursday when he said, "The aid we are seeking is to fight drug-traffickers and any group that helps them."

After meeting several U.S. senators on Thursday, Ramirez said Colombia wanted the money to buy more military helicopters, interceptor planes and radar equipment. In remarks carried in Friday's newspapers here, he said the Colombian government also "hopes to obtain on loan some of the equipment the Southern Command had at Howard Air Force Base in Panama" before closing operations there in May.

But the McCaffrey proposal would provide much more aid in a shorter time than the Colombians are seeking. According to the letter, the emergency aid would include $360 million to bolster existing anti-drug operations in southern Colombia, and an additional $130 million "to establish Colombia's ability to interdict in southern Colombia," a region increasingly dominated by the guerrillas.

The United States argues that eradication efforts have substantially reduced coca growing in the Guaviare region, a traditional cultivation area. But recent satellite images indicate a surge in coca and heroin poppy cultivation in the Putumayo and Caqueta areas, which are largely under guerrilla control, contributing to a 25 percent increase in the past year in the acreage devoted to growing drugs in Colombia.

Under the McCaffrey proposal, Colombia would also receive $30 million to "enhance regional intelligence programs" in order to "increase collection and improve assessments" of information obtained by satellites, radar and electronic intercepts. An additional $200 million would also be earmarked for improving U.S. interdiction efforts in the air and sea lanes north of here.

A study published by the Government Accounting Office last month revealed that the United States had begun sharing intelligence on guerrilla activities with the Colombian government in March.

At Fort Benning on Thursday, Wilhelm acknowledged that U.S. and Colombian military officials had been in constant communication throughout the weekend, appearing to confirm Colombian news reports that devastating bombing attacks on the guerrillas were based on information provided by the United States.

Any increase in aid to Colombia would have to be approved by Congress, which has sought to bolster the Pastrana government ever since it came to office last August.

With the enthusiastic support of leading Republicans like Rep. Benjamin Gilman, Congress agreed last November to more than triple U.S. assistance to the government here to $289 million, making Colombia the largest recipient of U.S. security aid after Israel and Egypt.