U.S. CAN'T AFFORD TO ABANDON DRUG WARS IN COLOMBIA

Editor's Note: The following commentary is in response to O. Ricardo
Pimentel's column last Thursday titled, "Spend dollars for Colombia on
our problem, not theirs."

American interests at home and in South America have been increasingly
threatened by ongoing, interrelated crises in Colombia. We must
protect ourselves from the flow of Colombian heroin and cocaine, in
particular, as well as support democratic government, the rule of law,
economic stability and human rights in that beleaguered country.

The Clinton Administration proposed a two-year assistance package of
$1.6 billion.

Colombia would receive equipment like UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters,
training and technical assistance for its police and criminal justice
system, funds for alternate economic development, drug interdiction
and support for peace initiatives. Peru and Bolivia, which achieved
dramatic reductions in cocaine production, would also receive modest
enhancements in U.S. aid.

The Pastrana government has committed $4 billion to "Plan Colombia"
and requested $3.5 billion in bilateral foreign assistance from the
international community.

Colombia estimates that $7.5 billion will be required over the next
three years to reverse the country's role as the hemispheric hub for
drugs.

Efforts are underway to build support among potential donors in Europe
and Asia. The world has come to realize that the drug problem is
multinational and demands an international response.

A nation the size of Texas, New Mexico and Arkansas combined, Colombia
is home to 38 million citizens caught in the crossfire between 20,000
guerillas, 6,000 paramilitary terrorists and national democratic
forces trying to defend an elected government. The level of violence
is greatly exacerbated by drug profits, which fuel different parties
to the conflict and allow outlaw factions to purchase more weapons.
About 35,000 Colombians were killed over the past decade in Latin
America's longest-running internal conflict.

If the U.S. doesn't help Colombia, even greater quantities of cocaine
and heroin are likely to be exported.

Colombia's role in the drug trade changed over the last
decade.

As coca cultivation plummeted in Peru (down 66 percent since 1995) and
in Bolivia (down 55 percent since 1995), it rose in Colombia by 140
percent -- an increase compounded by the introduction of a
higher-yield strain of plant.

In the past, Colombia primarily distributed Peruvian and Bolivian
cocaine.

Colombia now produces 520 metric tons of cocaine a year, two-thirds of
the world's total.

At the beginning of the 1990s, Colombian drug organizations made a
strategic decision to enter the heroin business.

Opium poppies can be grown year-round in Colombia with multiple
harvests.

A majority of the heroin seized on America's eastern seaboard now
comes from Colombia. After the demise of integrated cartels based in
Medellin and Cali, smaller cells began specializing in limited aspects
of the drug trade. Such groups are hard to disrupt.

Dismantling one has little impact on the others.

The increase in drug production acted like gasoline thrown on the fire
of Colombia's insurgency problems.

Guerrilla and paramilitary groups on both the left and right profit
enormously from the drug trade and organize peasants who grow illegal
substances. The drug industry swelled the war chests of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), National Liberation
Army (ELN) and the AUC (a paramilitary group). Dollar estimates of
their income from drugs run as high as hundreds of millions annually.

Drug money augments the funds such organizations get from kidnapping,
extortion and bank robbery.

The State Department documented that these groups hijack airplanes and
murder Americans as well as innocent Colombians. Serious human rights
violations committed by the outlaws include torturing and executing
prisoners, expropriating property and recruiting minors.

Colombia's economy is shrinking for the first time in three decades.
The gross national product decreased 5 percent in the first six months
of 1999. Unemployment exceeds 20 percent.

Displaced people, especially in rural areas, are seeking paid jobs
with narcotraffickers and illegal armed groups.

Recruits reportedly earn twice as much as army conscripts. Nearly a
million citizens lost their homes, so Colombia has more displaced
people than Kosovo. Without help from international partners, the
Colombian government will be unable to reduce narcotrafficking or
regain control of areas where illegal drugs are flourishing.

The old drug dichotomy between source countries and consumer nations
is misleading. Drugs are used wherever they are produced.

Therefore, a global strategy is imperative against international
trafficking. Colombia is too close geographically for us to pretend we
aren't affected, and it is currently responsible for 90 percent of the
cocaine being shipped into the United States.

The House of Representatives approved aid for Colombia, and President
Clinton is urging the Senate to vote soon. Our communities are being
poisoned by illegal drugs, which cost the United States 52,000
livesand $110 billion each year. The price of inaction is too high.