Colombia Doubts About US-Backed Drug War

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP)-A government report has raised fresh doubts about
Washington's drug-fighting strategy in Colombia, saying aerial fumigation
of crops may be damaging the environment and is failing to curb drug
production.

The report from the nation's comptroller-general's office urged President
Andres Pastrana to suspend the spraying of drug crops until scientists can
study the environmental effects of the herbicide.

"The majority of the environmental damages are irreversible," claimed the
report, which was released Saturday. The spraying of cocaine - and
heroin-producing crops is a major component of Pastrana's Plan Colombia,
and anti-drug strategy that Washington is supporting with $1.3billion in aid.

Gonzalo de Francisco, Pastrana's top adviser in the drug war, said the U.
S.-backed plan was on track and that criticism that the sprayings were
causing environmental damage was unfounded.

"Plan Colombia was never meant to be something that would happen
overnight," de Francisco said. "I am convinced that we are on the point of
achieving what we set out to do, which is eradicating drug production in
Colombia."

The report from Comptroller-General Carlos Ossa's office said the
eradication campaign has failed to curb the drug industry in Colombia - the
world's main exporter of heroin to the United States.

The overall acreage (total number of hectares) of drug crops continues to
expand and is moving to other areas of the country, and it is even jumping
the border into neighboring countries, the report said.