U.S. government opens DEA office in Nicaragua

By Lorraine Orlandi

MANAGUA, Oct 21 (Reuters) The U.S. government opened a Drug Enforcement
Administration office in Nicaragua on Tuesday promising not to trample on
the country's sovereignty in its fight against drugs bound for the United
States.

``We're not talking about James Bond or Robocop,'' U.S. Ambassador to
Nicaragua Lino Gutierrez told a news conference.

``Nothing will be done without the support and cooperation of the National
Police and Nicaraguan authorities.''

Gutierrez introduced Joseph A. Petrauskas, a pilot whose DEA resume
includes six years in Colombia, as the embassy's newest member in charge of
its antidrug effort.

``There are DEA offices in all of Central America except Nicaragua,''
Gutierrez said. ``This is the last piece.''

Nicaragua, which was governed by the Cubansupported Sandinistas from 1979
to 1990, was the only country in Latin America besides Cuba without a DEA
office.

But warming relations since 1990 has brought new cooperation on the drug
front.

A U.S. State Department report last March attributed the rise in drug
trafficking in Nicaragua to limited financing for antidrug forces, a
faulty judiciary and poor police training.

Those deficiencies were acknowledged at the news conference on Tuesday by
Government Minister Antonio Alvarado.

The main transit point for drugs is Nicaragua's sparsely populated and
poorly policed Atlantic coast, which had become ``a haven for drug
traffickers,'' the report said.

Traffickers moved drugs to the coast in speed boats then shipped them north
over land in container cargo, the report said.

Gutierrez said the United States and Nicaragua were considering a maritime
agreement aimed at combatting drug trafficking in Nicaraguan waters.

In April, 1996, Nicaraguan police, with DEA help, seized 1.4 tonnes of
cocaine on a fishing boat off the Atlantic Coast near the city of
Bluefields, 240 miles (383 kms) east of Managua.

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