HAITI PARALYSIS BRINGS A BOOM IN DRUG TRADE

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Sensing a singular opportunity in a country
weakened by a paralyzed government and an inexperienced police force,
Colombian and Dominican drug traffickers have made Haiti the
fastest-growing transit point for cocaine on its way to the United States,
American and Haitian law enforcement officials say.

Barry McCaffrey, the retired general who is President Clinton's drug policy
director, visited in early October and described the situation as "clearly
an emergency," warning that Haiti had become "the principal focus" of
groups trafficking drugs in the Caribbean. In an interview here, Pierre
Denize, chief of the Haitian National Police, offered an almost identical
assessment.

"The intensity of the problem is new and the capacity of law enforcement,
at least in the Republic of Haiti, is very limited," he said. "We have
limited resources, limited training, limited intelligence and investigative
capacity, and a very, very limited capacity to control a coast that,
geographically, is just across the street from Colombia." American
officials estimate that 15 percent of all the cocaine consumed in the
United States now passes through Haiti, about four tons a month. By their
calculation, that figure has doubled in little more than a year, and is,
they say, in large part a result of their increased success in blocking
smuggling routes farther east in the Caribbean, in Puerto Rico and the
Virgin Islands.

All along Haiti's southern coast, indications of landings by fast boats
from Colombia have increased, as have reports of airdrops in coastal
waters. Seizures at the airport here are up, especially on flights from
places near Colombia, like Panama and the Netherlands Antilles. U.S.
Customs officials have noted a corresponding increase in drugs found aboard
Haitian freighters docking in Miami.

Another sign of the surge in drug trafficking is that the Drug Enforcement
Administration and other American agencies are beefing up their presence
here and trying to forge closer ties with Haitian agencies that are weak
and inefficient. From just one agent here a year ago, the DEA contingent is
to grow to seven.

In an interview here, Robert Manuel, Haiti's secretary of state for public
security, acknowledged that his country was the "point of least resistance"
in the region, and thus an attractive target to the cocaine cartels. That
is an inevitable result, he said, of having to organize from scratch a
6,000-member civilian police force, a process he called "a nightmare."
After the landing of 20,000 American troops here four years ago, the
Haitian armed forces, which included a police force headed by an officer
later indicted in the United States on drug trafficking charges, were
abolished. The new police force includes a small coast guard, but that
force has one base and fewer than 10 vessels. Most of those are fast boats
confiscated from Colombian traffickers and only about half of them are
working at any one time. Haiti is also the poorest country in the
hemisphere, and that appeals greatly to traffickers.

"This is a cheaper place" for cartels to operate than Mexico or the
Dominican Republic, an American official here said, with a huge pool of
hungry people desperate for any kind of work. "Laborers earn 15 cents an
hour, so getting people to risk their lives is less difficult" and the
bribes that have to be paid are smaller, the official said. But Haiti's
traditional vulnerability has been amplified by a political squabble
between two factions of the Lavalas movement, which has been in power since
American troops deposed a military dictatorship four years ago. The
political crisis, which has lasted 16 months, has left the country without
a functioning government.

"They are always searching for the fissures, and they found one in Haiti,"
McCaffrey said of the drug cartels.

With the Haitian Parliament unable even to assemble a quorum, several
important drug-related legislative proposals are stalled. Among them are a
drug interdiction cooperation treaty with the United States, bills that
would increase penalties for drug trafficking, possession or use, and
comprehensive money-laundering legislation.

"I recently arrested a gentleman going to Panama who was carrying $1
million on his person," Denize said. "He said to me, 'Chief, you should
have told me you were arresting people and waited for a day when I was
really moving money.' He also assured me there was absolutely no law or
regulation he was violating, which turned out to be absolutely true."

Haitian and American officials said that at least 60 Colombians have been
arrested on drug charges here in recent months. But because of the
government's inability to draft a budget to keep the judicial system
afloat, a shortage of judges and official corruption, it is not clear how
many Colombian prisoners have been tried or convicted.

"There have been some small victories," but many judges are "not competent,
scared and underpaid," Manuel said. "We are missing the judicial tools we
need," he added, and the result is that "when violators get arrested, they
get released by an inefficient and corrupt judicial system." In public
remarks, several members of the Haitian Congress have asserted that much of
the drug trade here is controlled by former military and police officers
who changed loyalties and are now associates of former President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

American officials say they are investigating the matter, but emphasize, as
one put it, that there is as yet "no evidence that could lead to a
prosecution."

When asked about the accusations, Denize said, "I would need a definition
of 'entourage."' Manuel dismissed much of the talk as the product of "a
very low level of politics."

Aristide himself was said to be traveling and unavailable for comment, but
in the past he has dismissed such charges as attacks by his political
opponents. Ira Kurzban, an American lawyer who is general counsel for the
government of Haiti and a member of the board of the Aristide Foundation
for Democracy, described the allegations against Aristide's associates as
part of "a concerted campaign of disinformation" intended to soil the
former president's political image.

"Both the former and the current president are really committed to doing
something about drugs, which they recognize as a long-term threat to the
stability of democracy in Haiti," Kurzban said. "But they need a great deal
of help from the United States, and that help has not been forthcoming in a
sufficient way."

American policy clearly is to continue to do everything possible to fortify
the police and judicial system here. But there also seems to be a
recognition that so long as the current paralysis continues, the best
results in interdicting drugs are likely to come from working around,
rather than in, Haiti.

"We have got to get a continuous U.S. presence offshore and keep drugs from
getting into Haiti," McCaffrey said. "Our U.S. defenses have to be on the
far side of Haiti and the near side of Haiti so that Haiti isn't
overwhelmed by these incredibly organized and violent drug criminals."

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski