CONTROLLING DRUGS IN COLOMBIA

Congress has granted the Clinton administration the $1.3 billion it
sought to help Colombia fight drug cultivation and trafficking. But
before final passage of the legislation, Congressional conferees
stripped away some of the important human rights and environmental
safeguards added by the Senate. Without these restrictions on the use
of American aid, the United States could find itself drawn into the
long war between the Colombian government and leftist guerrillas, a
war that neither side can expect to win by military means. It will now
be up to the White House to make sure that American involvement
neither prolongs war nor weakens democracy.

Colombia produces more than 90 percent of the cocaine and about
two-thirds of the heroin that reaches the United States. In recent
years, Bogota's American-aided effort to eradicate coca plants by
aerial spraying has been losing ground, in part because much of the
crop is grown in areas where government control is weak and the
guerrillas are the most powerful military force. The close
intertwining of drug-control efforts with the army's war against the
guerrillas means that unless Washington proceeds with care, it could
find American prestige and even American support troops at risk in a
prolonged and open-ended military entanglement.

Most of the new money will go to arm, train and support Colombia's
army and police. The army, in particular, has an abysmal human rights
record. The Senate bill would have halted aid if Colombia failed to
punish abusive officers. But the conferees authorized the White House
to waive this provision by claiming that America's national security
requires action against drugs. Also eliminated were Senate
restrictions on the use of pesticides that harm human health or the
environment.

Colombia's president, Andres Pastrana, has worked hard to start peace
negotiations with the guerrillas. Successful talks could allow more
settled conditions in Colombia's drug-growing regions and give their
inhabitants economic alternatives to coca farming. This would do far
more to fight drugs and bring stability to Colombia than would
expanded military operations. The Clinton administration must ensure
that American aid reinforces democracy and contributes to a negotiated
peace.