COLOMBIAN POLICE SPRAY HERBICIDE ON COCA, WELLSTONE

Standing next to 10-foot coca bushes in a remote mountain region near
the Tarasa River on Thursday, Sen. Paul Wellstone was ready to watch
the Colombian National Police demonstrate its new approach to
fumigating coca, the raw product used to produce cocaine.

But then something odd happened: Wellstone got sprayed, along with
surprised members of his delegation, including his press secretary and
foreign policy adviser.

Police officials said it was a mistake, blaming the wind for blowing
the chemical -- known as glysophate -- from its intended path.

Moments earlier, Lt. Col. Marcos Pedreros, the police official in
charge of the spraying mission, had assured Wellstone that the spray
posed no risk to humans, animals or the environment. Officials said
it's similar to Roundup, a commonly used herbicide.

"I am Colombian," said Pedreros, who communicated through an
interpreter with Wellstone, D-Minn. "I love my motherland, and with my
men I couldn't destroy my own homeland. I know that what I'm doing is
under the law, and that's why I do it with love and devotion."

Ironically, the U.S. Embassy in Colombia had just circulated materials
to reporters, noting the "precise geographical coordinates" used to
spray coca fields. According to embassy officials, a computer program
sets precise flight lines with a 170-foot width, leaving little room
for error.

But Wellstone was hit with a fine mist of the herbicide from a
helicopter flying less than 200 feet above him. He winced and rubbed
his eyes later, but he managed a joke, saying he could become a case
study on possible dangers linked to the chemical.

Asked whether he was stunned to get hit, Wellstone said: "Oh, yeah,
and I'm imagining that I'm itching a lot, too."

One of the members of Wellstone's delegation was particularly irked
after she was sprayed.

"I really resented it," said Pamela Costain, executive director of the
Minneapolis-based Resource Center of the Americas, who thinks the
fumigation of coca fields could result in long-term environmental
damage. "I'm fearful about what they're using, and I really didn't
want to get it on me."

Colombian officials sought to downplay the incident.

"We did not spray on the people or on the senator," said Gen. Gustavo
Socha, anti-narcotics director for the Colombian National Police,
speaking through an interpreter. But when told that a reporter
witnessed the incident, Socha said: "What hit him was because of the
wind, not because they had the intention."

Wellstone, one of the few senators to oppose a $1.3 billion U.S. aid
plan to help Colombia fight its drug war, drew much attention from the
Colombian press. The plan is a pet project for Colombian President
Andres Pastrana, but Wellstone said that peasant farmers will continue
growing coca as long as few jobs exist in a country where unemployment
hovers at 20 percent.

Using an interpreter to speak to Colombian reporters, Wellstone said:
"I believe they are very honestly committed to this fight, but I have
to wonder whether or not we will be able to win this fight against
this narcotics trade as long as the people in Colombia and the
countryside do not have other alternatives to enable them to be able
to make a living and as long as in my country -- the United States of
America -- there is such demand. ... I will remain a critic, but with
respect."

Colombian police used Wellstone's visit to announce plans to spray
17,290 acres of coca as part of its new Operation "Paramillo." Police
said 300 men will be involved in the effort, using Black Hawk
helicopters sent by the United States. Police are targeting a region
where violence is high as paramilitary groups clash with guerrilla
groups over who will control the nation's drug trade.

After receiving the U.S. aid, Colombian officials gave Wellstone a
warm welcome.

"Be certain that your visit raises the morale of our men," Pedreros
told Wellstone, shortly before he boarded a helicopter to witness the
spraying at a nearby coca field that had been discovered with aerial
surveillance.

At the site, police found 35 raspachines, or coca workers, who were
arrested as they stuffed coca leaves into bags and then used donkeys
to transport the drugs through muddy red clay to a makeshift
laboratory nearby.

At the laboratory next to the river, police stood in a foot-high
blanket of coca leaves as they gave an impromptu news conference. Then
they ignited 50 pounds of dynamite, sending a gigantic fireball of
black smoke into the sweltering air.

Police took Wellstone to another site, where they wanted him to get
off the helicopter to watch another explosion destroy a runway used by
drug traffickers. Wellstone declined, saying he was running behind
schedule, but he caught a glimpse of the smoke from the helicopter.

Costain said that she was offended by the entire display.

"I felt like the senator's visit was used as a public-relations ploy
for the eradication program," she said. "And I think it's ironic
because I'm not at all confident that the senator supports the
eradication program."

Later, Wellstone flew to Barrancabermeja, becoming the first member of
Congress to visit what embassy officials called the most dangerous
city in Colombia. Under heavy security, he met with human-rights
groups who said the Colombian government is doing nothing to protect
civilians from the drug war, which is resulting in large-scale
massacres and record kidnappings.

As Wellstone returns to the United States today, he said he will try
to insist that Colombia gets no more U.S. aid unless it improves its
human rights record.

"My father fled persecution from Russia," said Wellstone, a member of
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "I believe in human rights for
people more than anything."