COLOMBIA STYMIES COCA PLANT SPRAYING

The Governments Won't Acknowledge It, But Pastrana Has Eradication Efforts
On Hold For Now.

WASHINGTON -- A $1.3-billion U.S. plan to help fight the drug war in
Colombia has hit a major snag in recent weeks, with President Andres
Pastrana refusing to allow further aerial spraying of herbicides in the
heart of coca-growing country in the south, according to American and
Colombian officials.

Although Washington expects to resolve the problem through senior-level
negotiations, Pastrana is under enormous domestic and international
pressure to stop the spraying. Among other things, opponents complain that
the practice displaces impoverished communities, destroys legal as well as
illegal crops and endangers the environment.

Critics also charge that aerial spraying isn't working, pointing out that
despite the use of 67,000 gallons of herbicide since December, coca
cultivation remains out of control. They would rather have more funding go
toward alternative development and social programs.

The U.S. State Department, which helps coordinate the spraying in Colombia,
and the Pastrana administration officially deny any clash over spray policy.

"In no case is there an intention by the government to stop fumigation,"
Gonzalo de Francisco, one of Pastrana's point men on the internationally
funded aid package known as Plan Colombia, said Wednesday in Washington.
"There is not a single airplane grounded because of the president."

The St. Petersburg Times, however, has confirmed the impasse between
Washington and Bogota with a number of sources, including Bruce Bagley, a
Colombia expert at the University of Miami who advises the Bush
administration and the CIA on U.S. policy in Colombia. Bagley said he
learned of the dispute with Pastrana from senior administration officials
while on a visit to Washington two weeks ago.

Bagley serves on the Strategic Assessment Group, which includes about a
dozen consultants who meet regularly to discuss ongoing events in Colombia
and how they affect the U.S. role there, including funding.

Pastrana's change of heart, Bagley said, "came as a big surprise and it
alarmed a number of people in Washington," including officials at the State
Department, the Pentagon, CIA, DEA and the National Security Council.

What American officials are telling Pastrana, Bagley said, is, "Spray or
else, buddy. They're very upset with him."

U.S. officials fear that without immediate spraying, recent successes in
the region will be wiped out, with coca plantings already proliferating.
U.S. officials also fear that without results on the ground, Congress will
scale back funding to Bogota.

Specifically, Bagley said Pastrana was objecting to further aerial spraying
in the province of Caqueta because of a funding dispute with the White
House, the threat of social protests in the region, domestic politics and
potential clashes with Marxist rebels.

The Anti-narcotics Police in Bogota confirmed Bagley's account, saying
spraying had been halted in Caqueta on orders from Bogota. The reason, they
said, were protests by indigenous groups and supposed ecological damage.

"It's suspended for those reasons," said Julio Rincon, chief spokesman for
the Anti-narcotics Police. "Those are the government's orders."

Congressional sources in Washington say Pastrana's objections don't end in
Caqueta. They say the State Department also is worried about suspended
aerial spraying in the neighboring province of Putumayo, where the bulk of
the U.S.-financed fumigation missions have been conducted under Plan Colombia.

Western diplomats in Colombia characterize Pastrana's emerging position on
aerial spraying as an "undeclared moratorium."

But de Francisco said the lull in spraying in southern Colombia had nothing
to do with presidential intransigence. Instead, he attributed it to the
rainy season. Also, he said -- at least in Putumayo -- government officials
want to give time for alternative development and social programs to take
hold before resuming "forced eradication."

He said aerial spraying continued in other parts of Colombia, including in
the provinces of Tolima, Norte de Santander, Sur de Bolivar and Guaviare.
At least one aircraft remains in Caqueta, he said.

Officials at the U.S. Southern Command in Miami, the military force charged
with security in Latin America, agreed that winter had hampered spraying
missions in the south. But they acknowledged that domestic politics and
pressure from the Europeans, who frown on the military component of Plan
Colombia and spraying in particular, also were getting in the way.

In recent months, Colombia has been courting the European Union for
additional funding for social development programs for Plan Colombia. In
addition to coca and poppy eradication, Plan Colombia features social,
judicial and economic programs, including road building projects, totaling
$7.5-billion.

Officials with the Southern Command say Washington wants to spray more than
Colombia is willing to allow. A U.S. official, for example, said the United
States was prepared to start spraying in Caqueta immediately.

After intense spraying in Putumayo and Caqueta, the official said levels
had gone back to normal. He said he was worried about the political will to
resume spraying in the region, insisting that when they began in December,
the United States was well aware of a potential political backlash.

State Department officials in Washington declined repeated requests for an
interview, saying only that there was no problem in Caqueta and that they
were unaware of any social protests or environmental concerns.

In recent months, at least six governors from southern Colombia have come
out against aerial spraying and in favor of economic development, going so
far as traveling to Washington a few weeks ago to call attention to the issue.

According to a State Department report obtained by the Times titled
"Summary of Counternarcotics Operations in Colombia," spraying in Putumayo
was "temporarily suspended by the Government of Colombia" on April 10.

Spraying also was halted in Caqueta on May 3.

According to the document, which covers the period between Dec 19, 2000,
and May 9, 2001, the decision to halt spraying was "in keeping with the
government's integrated strategy to combine social programs, alternative
crop development, and aerial eradication."

The report said that the Colombian government "has shown the political will
to maintain its commitment to the aerial eradication and interdiction
aspects of Plan Colombia, even if violence escalates (as is likely to be
the case)."

But it concluded that "continued close engagement at all levels will be
required to maintain the GOC's (Government of Colombia's) resolve."

The State Department's $115-million aerial eradication program is a key
element of the overall Plan Colombia.

By attacking coca and poppy cultivation, the United States hopes to reduce
the amount of cocaine and heroin reaching American streets, while helping
to cut off funding for the rebels and right wing paramilitaries who finance
an increasingly bloody war through the drug trade.

Plan Colombia calls for a 50 percent reduction in coca cultivation within
five years.

With Pastrana balking at future spraying in the south, where the majority
of coca grows, the very premise behind Plan Colombia appears to be in
question. With enough arm-twisting, however, American officials fully
expect Pastrana to come around, insisting Colombia cannot shake its woes
without U.S. aid.

"I don't think that one could argue in any sense that Plan Colombia has
been derailed," Bagley said. But, he added, "If it goes on for very long,
that is for several months, then it would become a more important setback
and would begin to worry Washington a great deal."

According to Bagley, the president is unhappy with the $400-million aid
package the Bush administration is proposing for Colombia in the new fiscal
year. He was hoping for up to $600-million, mostly for social programs.

Pastrana also is wary as the 2002 presidential campaign cranks into high
gear in Colombia. Unable to run again, he is worried about his legacy.

During a visit to Putumayo last week to promote Plan Colombia, Pastrana was
greeted with shouts of "liar!" Signs also declared that he was a puppet of
the United States.

Analysts say Pastrana is worried that spraying in southern Colombia could
undermine an ambiguously worded peace agreement worked out with the rebels,
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, in February. While
Pastrana engages in peace talks with the rebels, congressional sources in
Washington say he does not want to "spit in their eye" by spraying.

This week the FARC intensified its criticism of Plan Colombia, issuing a
communique accusing the government of "indiscriminate spraying."

Pastrana, too, is sensitive to criticism that since its implementation in
December, Plan Colombia has ignored the social needs of thousands of coca
farmers. Pastrana made his first trip to Putumayo last week to promote
peasant pacts for voluntary manual eradication of coca. Under the pacts
peasants receive $1,000 in materials and seed if they agree to plan
alternative legal crops.

But U.S. counter-drug officials are skeptical. They say there's no
guarantee the farmers won't resort to growing coca. Instead, U.S. officials
point to the far greater results achieved by aerial spraying, about 74,000
acres in southern Colombia, including Caqueta, in less than six months.

U.S. officials acknowledged that they intentionally picked
paramiltary-controlled areas in Putumayo as "soft targets" for initial
spraying. Because paramilitaries were expected to put up less resistance
they hoped early success would build confidence.

In Caqueta, it's a different story because the FARC is expected to put up a
bigger fight.

U.S. officials, meanwhile, want to return to spraying immediately. Last
year despite spraying, there was a 12 percent increase in coca cultivation
from the previous year, U.S. figures show.

In Guaviare, for example, spraying wiped out almost 50,000 acres of coca 18
months ago. Since then, U.S. officials say, the entire area has been replanted.