URUGUAY LEADER WANTS DRUGS DECRIMINALIZED

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay -- This small, quiet, slow-moving nation doesn't make
much news. That's part of being a small, quiet, slow-moving nation.

But Uruguayan President Jorge Batlle has figured out a way to get
headlines. He has become the first head of state in the region, and one of
the few anywhere, to call for the decriminalization of illicit drugs.
Batlle, a blunt free-market reformer, questions the costs and effectiveness
of a drug war whose primary theater of battle is Latin America.

"During the past 30 years this has grown, grown, grown and grown, every day
more problems, every day more violence, every day more militarization," the
73-year-old president told a radio audience recently. "This has not gotten
people off drugs. And what's more, if you remove the economic incentive" of
the business "it loses strength, it loses size, it loses people who
participate."

If this were Colombia, Mexico or another nation locked in mortal combat
with the cartels, the reaction would be fast and furious. The president
would be pilloried by rivals and the security forces. He probably would win
cheers from some leftists and people who survive on the drug trade. The
U.S. Embassy would no doubt express concern.

But this is Uruguay. The debate over Batlle's endorsement of legalization
has been measured and civilized. The drug problem here is growing but not
monstrous, so some Uruguayans haven't paid much attention. And because the
president insists that his "philosophical initiative" will not affect
anti-drug enforcement here, U.S. diplomats have kept quiet.

Nonetheless, a line has been crossed. Although Batlle's voice may be small
and symbolic, the verve with which he speaks out on the issue at regional
meetings of presidents and journalists probably will contribute to a
growing debate. A Latin American leader has broken ranks -- at a crucial
and difficult time -- with the hard-line anti-drug campaign led by the
United States.

These days, the term "drug war" is more appropriate than ever. Bolivian
troops are approaching their goal of eradicating the coca crop used in
cocaine production from a key jungle area -- at the cost of deadly riots
and economic hardship. Plan Colombia, the high stakes, U.S.-funded attack
on the cocaine trade linked to Colombian guerrillas, is cranking into gear.

The plan makes the leaders of Brazil, Ecuador and other nations nervous.
They fear that violence, anarchy and displaced drug traffickers from
Colombia will spread through the region. Batlle has expressed similar
misgivings; he suggests that it would make more sense to decriminalize
drugs and deprive narco-guerrillas of a business that generates billions of
dollars.

"Look at the mess there is with Plan Colombia, where everyone thinks we are
going to end up in a war like Vietnam and there is a kind of global
psychosis," Batlle said recently.

After winning a narrow election in late 1999, Batlle cultivated a
reputation for speaking his mind and stirring up Uruguay's staid political
culture. He declared war on a contraband business that he says relies on
well-placed allies in government. He criticized the cushy salaries of
public servants.

Most notably, he pushed forward -- with initial success -- an uphill effort
to deregulate and open up the economy in a country of 3.1 million that is a
bastion of old-fashioned leftist statism.

His 48 percent approval rating is remarkable, according to political
consultant Juan Carlos Doyenart, because Uruguayans are not enamored of
bold change and split their allegiances equally among three political blocs.

The talk about decriminalizing drugs is part of a plain-spoken, irreverent
style that serves Batlle well at home and draws attention overseas, said
Doyenart, an occasional presidential adviser.

"He enjoys himself and he knows that with these things he wins popularity,"
Doyenart said. The president's critics generally accept his argument that
he wants to provoke an intellectual debate rather than dismantle current
laws. But Congressman Alberto Scaravelli, Uruguay's former drug czar and
its current emissary to the anti-drug council of the OAS, thinks Batlle is
playing with fire.

"This was not part of the president's electoral platform. I have been
assured that there will be no softening of the laws. If there is, I will be
the first to stand and oppose it."