DRUG TRAFFICKERS THREATEN STABILITY

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) -- Drug traffickers are endangering
democracy in small nations and leaving a trail of violence across the
Americas, speakers told a major anti-drug conference Monday attended
by Attorney General Janet Reno.

``If the international community does not work together against drug
traffickers, this region's stability and the economic stability of the
world are at grave risk,'' Trinidad's Attorney General Ramesh Maharaj
said.

Maharaj noted U.N. estimates that show the illegal drug trade
generating $500 billion a year -- more than the world's oil and gas
industries combined.

The two-day conference in Trinidad's capital, aimed at overcoming
international obstacles to law enforcement, brought more than 100 law
enforcement officials from the Caribbean, Britain, Canada and the
United States.

Just off the coast South America's cocaine-producing countries,
Trinidad was the first country to sign a much-criticized agreement
allowing U.S. law enforcers to pursue suspected drug smugglers into
its territorial waters. Though some Caribbean countries complained
that such agreements could undermine their sovereignty, all have since
signed up.

Reno, who led the U.S. delegation, was expected to visit a rural drug
rehabilitation center on the seized estate of drug lord Dole Chadee.
Last year Chadee was hanged along with eight of his henchmen for
killing a family in a drug dispute.

Caribbean countries are under pressure to loosen secretive banking
laws, which U.S. and European drug agents have said attract the
fortunes of drug barons.

In addition, the United States is frustrated by other countries'
reluctance in extraditing some drug suspects. And smaller countries
are exasperated by the flood of convicted criminals deported from U.S.
prisons.

The difficulty of balancing anti-drug operations and international
relations was underscored last week, when U.S. drug agents lured a
suspected trafficker out of St. Kitts on a boat in order to arrest him
in international waters.

``Smugglers don't pay attention to international borders, but law
enforcement has to, not only in tracking them down, but also in taking
action against them,'' said Jay Carmichael, chief counsel for the U.S.
Coast Guard.

Officials at the two-day meeting were scheduled to discuss money
laundering, street gangs, how to fight organized crime and
extradition. They were also to consider proposals for specialized
``drug courts'' to speed trials.