RESCUE COLOMBIA?

The Drug War Expands In The Wrong Direction

Andres Pastrana understood the skittishness among many in Washington about
investing more than $1 billion to fight drugs and guerrillas in Colombia.
Memories of the entanglements in Nicaragua and El Salvador lingered.
Wouldn't Colombia, fractured, corrupt and violent, promise worse?

The Colombian president set about doing what any determined suitor would in
the nation's capital. He launched a lobbying campaign. Dozens of visits to
Washington. Trips for representatives and senators to his own country. In
the end, he prevailed. The Senate and then the House approved a $1.3
billion package. President Clinton joined the cause long ago.

How determined was Pastrana? Or desperate?

Colombia has pledged to take extraordinary steps. Its military command has
submitted the names of all 900 members of its new drug-fighting battalion
to American officials for vetting. Washington wants to check for reports of
human-rights violations or links to criminal activities. A significant
portion of the aid will go for helicopters, deemed essential to jungle
warfare. American officials will have the authority to review each mission.

Latin American countries have long been jealous of their sovereignty,
especially in their relations with the United States. In this case,
Colombia is asking for help from the international community. All told, the
Colombia Plan involves $7.5 billion aimed at political reform, crop
substitution and counter-narcotics activities. European countries and
international lenders also are putting up money.

In theory, the plan has persuasive elements. Past efforts in Bolivia and
Peru have driven much of the drug production to Colombia. The timing may be
right for a stronger military effort aimed at the core of the drug industry
that exists in the southern part of the country.

Unfortunately, the realities of Colombia have proved daunting and little
changed. If Pastrana represents an improvement over his predecessor, whose
administration was linked to drug money, the armed forces remain under
suspicion. They have a record of incompetence and brutality. Are they
really prepared for a task they've neglected in the past?

American officials have demanded that U.S. assistance be used exclusively
to fight drugs. Others point out that practically speaking, the drug war
can't be waged effectively without directly attacking guerrillas who
control the countryside. Thus, the dilemma that Pastrana has work hard to
ease in Washington: How deep will the American commitment become?

The drug war hasn't exactly been ignored the past two decades. Small
victories have been erased. Cocaine production has doubled the past five
years, driven, in large part, by demand in the United States and elsewhere.
The ruins of a Colombia ravaged by drugs present bleak prospects. They also
pose a warning: Andres Pastrana will be back.