Colombian drugs
U.S. message to Colombian officials must be tough

Drug czar Barry McCaffrey stepped out on a limb Monday when he ended a
twoyear ban on highlevel contacts with Colombian officials. In personally
meeting with President Ernesto Samper in Bogota, the head of the Office of
National Drug Control Policy sought to use the diplomatic tool of
constructive engagement. Whether that approach works in this instance will
depend less on tact than on reading the riot act.

Plain speaking is imperative so the meeting will not be seen as a softening
of the administration's previous hard line toward Colombia. That perception
can only help shore up the image of Mr. Samper, who has been under a cloud
since 1994, when he was accused of taking $6 million in political donations
from drug lords. Even critics within the administration are appalled by
Monday's meeting, but given that a drugfinanced leftist insurgency is
making headway against the Colombian government, a new U.S. strategy could
be justified.

Above all, it is to be hoped that Mr. McCaffrey raised the issue of
extradition in no uncertain terms. Last month, the Colombian Senate
approved a measure that, in effect, protected Cali cartel members now in
jail from being extradited to the United States. Though Mr. McCaffrey
speaks of "defending democracy," if it's true that millions of dollars in
drug money are flowing into Colombia's political campaigns, Colombia is
more of a "narcodemocracy."

If constructive engagement is to work, tough talking must be complemented
by a united front within the U.S. government. But officials within the
State Department vigorously opposed Mr. McCaffrey's decision to meet with
Mr. Samper. They saw it as inconsistent with the U.S. refusal to grant the
Colombian president a visa because of his alleged ties to drug traffickers
and with the U.S. position that Colombia is not cooperating with the United
States in antidrug trafficking efforts.

Hopefully, Mr. McCaffrey's decision to meet with Mr. Samper will be
vindicated. But that will happen only if the drug czar can present evidence
of having persuaded Mr. Samper to take a harder line against drug
trafficking in his own country. The best evidence of that will be if
Colombia cooperates by extraditing its major drug lords to stand trial in
the United States.