COLOMBIA TO REQUIRE LONG-TERM U.S. AID

Why did the 106th Congress and the Clinton administration suddenly
turn Colombia into the third-largest recipient of American foreign
assistance?

Simply stated, it's because this South American country is the source
of 90 percent of the cocaine and 65 percent of the heroin found on the
streets of the United States. It is perilously close to political and
economic chaos. Should the government collapse, Colombia could become
the first nation in the world to fall under the control of drug lords.

Colombians deserve our help, but it will take much more than U.S.
assistance for the Colombian government to eliminate the
well-entrenched, heavily armed drug traffickers and the problems
caused by them.

Internal conflict

It will be expensive, require a long-term commitment and will have to
enlist Colombia's immediate neighbors and many of the countries in
this hemisphere. The European Union, which represents the second major
cocaine market after the United States, and transnational banks, will
also have to play a role.

This potential national disaster is related to a 40-year-old civil
war, an internal conflict precipitated by a Marxist guerilla movement
that is today known as the FARC. The movement grew out of a struggle
with land barons in behalf of an exploited peasant class. In response,
the owners of large farming estates created their own security forces,
the paras, or paramilitaries. At first, the conflict was about the
control of coffee plantations and local politics. When Colombia in the
1980s became a major producer of cocaine, both of these armed groups
began to take money from narcotic traffickers.

Trying peace process

With large sums earned from the cocaine trade, it was possible for
each to recruit, equip, train and pay significant numbers of full-time
fighters. Today, it is estimated that the FARC has a force in the
field of 17,000. The paras, who some say continue to have the support
of the Columbian Army, are thought to number 8,000.

Anti-drug operations ruthlessly carried out by the Columbian military
against the guerillas, the destruction of infrastructure, kidnapping
and campaigns of terror by the insurgents and paras have added to
destabilization.

Faced with the possibility of the collapse of a democratic government,
an event that could lead to political chaos and possibly the formation
of a regime under the control of drug lords, the government has tried
to restart the peace process. It has handed 40 percent of the country
to the FARC to get that group to the negotiating table. Washington has
made available $1.3 billion to President Andres Pastrana in support of
his $7.5 billion "Plan Colombia," the objective of which is to pacify
the nation, promote development and curb drug trafficking.

The American contribution is being used for the security part of the
plan. The United States has agreed to train and equip three Colombian
anti-narcotic army battalions, supply a fleet of ultra modern Black
Hawk helicopters and provide funding for the aircraft and the cost of
spraying coca fields with a version of what U.S. gardeners call Roundup.

Cutting down supply

For the record, the Colombians recite some impressive statistics.
Having made a commitment to eradicate 50 percent of their coca crop by
2005, they claim the destruction of some 71,000 acres since late
December when the spraying started.

Plan Colombia, already under-funded, can count on American financial
support for only 24 months. To resolve the country's security problems
alone will require more than a one-time grant.

Colombian society, divided by class and geography, lacks effective
creditable civic institutions. The legislature, courts, police and
military need to be rebuilt. A viable economic infrastructure must
also be put in place so that impoverished peasants can gain a
permanent stake in a country that until the 1990s had developed a
healthy economy in spite of local drug cartels. The third Summit of
the Americas to be held in Ottawa in April will present an opportunity
to build consensus on some type of multinational program designed to
deal with a problem that tomorrow may be faced by the entire region. A
re-energized Organization of the America States might be given the
job.

The drug problem in the United States is real and growing. In one
six-day period recently, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted 10 tons of
cocaine --- more than was seized in all of last year.

Supporting Plan Colombia and other hemispheric operations are
necessary first steps, but they will accomplish little unless
Washington puts in place a well-funded domestic education and drug
rehabilitation program and then acts on reducing consumption here.