MILITIAS SAY THEY TAX DRUGS IN COLOMBIA

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Colombia's rightist paramilitary groups
finance themselves by taxing the drug trade, the same as their leftist
rivals do, the nation's top militia boss has confirmed for the first
time.

In a television report aired late Sunday, national paramilitary chief
Carlos Castano confirmed the long-standing accusations by Colombian
and U.S. officials that rightists are involved in the illegal drug
trade.

The security-conscious Castano, who spoke to TV Hoy surrounded by
armed guards and with his back to the camera, said the paramilitary
groups, who call themselves "self-defense forces," based in northeast
Colombia charge a 40 percent tax on peasants who produce coca, the raw
material for cocaine.

"The self-defense forces are where they are because there is money.
The war has become economic," said Castano, dressed in green fatigues.

"Why don't we be frank and tell the world what's really going on in
Colombia?"

Leftist guerrillas have waged a 35-year struggle against the
government in the name of poor peasants and readily admit they partly
finance their operations by taxing the drug trade in regions they control.

Like Castano, the rebels deny that this makes them drug
traffickers.

Critics of the guerrillas, however, say they have become more
interested in making money than bringing about a social revolution.