COLOMBIAN CRACKDOWN APPEARS TO BE PAYING OFF

Two summers ago, drug gangs, leftist rebels and right-wing militias
traded mortar and machine-gun fire daily as they vied for control of
this steamy port city.

Teens were paid $200 a month -- a king's ransom in this impoverished
community -- to act as lookouts for narcos. Armed groups fought it out
in the neighborhoods and trash-strewn inlets from which 60-foot
speedboats departed for Central America and Mexico with illicit drug
loads.

With an average of three killings a day, Buenaventura's homicide rate
was among the highest on the planet.

It was at that point that Colombian President Alvaro Uribe put his
foot down, deploying hundreds of additional police and soldiers to
patrol the streets and monitor cargo movements at Colombia's largest
Pacific port.

And to offer more options to residents, the government boosted
spending on development and infrastructure. One effort involves moving
poor residents from seaside shacks in crime-ridden areas into 3,000
new housing units. The programs are partially backed by USAID, the
U.S. State Department's development agency.

The move to reestablish order took a step forward this week when
authorities announced the discovery of $6 million concealed in a
shipment of sodium sulfate at the port here.

Officials say the seizure Tuesday of hundred-dollar bills hidden in
bulk chemicals used to manufacture detergent was the latest sign that
Colombia's effort to retake control of this once hyper-violent city is
meeting with some success.

In all, the armed forces have recovered $28.6 million in cash this
month aboard cargo containers arriving from Mexico.

So far this year, they've also impounded a record 30 tons of cocaine
at the port or in its immediate vicinity. Since April, Colombia's
armed forces have arrested 26 port workers and eight members of the
port police on suspicion of involvement with the narcos.

And in a related action, police in Mexico last week found $11 million
hidden in sulfates aboard a Buenaventura-bound ship docked in
Manzanillo, the port where 23 tons of Colombian cocaine was seized in
2007.

The recoveries point to effective information-sharing among Colombian,
Mexican and U.S. counter-narcotics agencies. They also indicate a
rupture in the inner sanctum of Colombian and Mexican drug cartels for
whom the Buenaventura-Manzanillo shipping route has been a key
corridor for the last decade.

The cash busts reflect just one facet of the Colombian government's
multi-pronged effort to crack down on drug traffickers and provide
economic alternatives to the city's 400,000 residents.

Helping in the push has been U.S. law enforcement and foreign aid
agencies, which have provided technical, intelligence and economic
support.

The catalyst, said Jay Bergman, the Andean regional director for the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, was the November 2007 seizure in
Mexico of 23 tons of cocaine, which transformed spiraling lawlessness
in Buenaventura into "an international matter."

"The Colombian and U.S. governments see this as a test case for what
better security and economic development can do for the Pacific coast
of Colombia," he said. "If we succeed, it bodes well for Colombia's
security initiative. If we fail, conversely, it's a harbinger of an
immeasurable challenge."

The added police presence has cut the homicide rate to one-third of
what it was two years ago, and city streets that until recently were
deserted after dark are showing signs of life again, said Mayor Jose
Felix Ocoro.

"We are showing that Buenaventura can be a viable city, though there
still is a lot more to be done," Ocoro said.

Public works projects include a doubling of the port area, and
construction of a new four-lane highway to connect Buenaventura to
Cali, the nearest big city, to improve commerce.

Urban development works include a mile-long seafront to attract
tourists. Among USAID projects are farm cooperatives to grow bananas
and other projects that combined have created at least 2,100 local
jobs. Education programs are being aimed at reducing the high rate of
illiteracy.

The government's long-term goals may be difficult to accomplish in
light of Colombia's resourceful and tenacious drug traffickers, who
have shown the ability to adapt to government interdiction efforts.

Ocoro said efforts to stimulate the economy still leave much to be
desired. He said the government should subsidize diesel fuel to
rejuvenate commercial fishing and an environmentally responsible
timber industry. The city also badly needs an expanded airport.

"If we are to see pacification of the region, it will be
self-sustaining only if people are given hopes of a productive future.
That sort of vision is still lacking," Ocoro said.

No one in the government is yet declaring victory in the battle for
Buenaventura and there are frequent reminders of drug-fueled violence.
Also, the 34th Front of the leftist rebel group Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, or FARC, carries out occasional attacks in the
region.

In late July, assassins on a motorcycle killed Wilson Vinasco, head of
the port's largest freight handling company, and his 15-year-old
daughter, in nearby Cali. Law enforcement sources say the executive
had just fired a high-level employee for suspected involvement with
drug traffickers.

And last week, three grenades were tossed outside a national police
outpost in Buenaventura, wounding three officers. Officials believe
the attack was carried out by elements of FARC.

Still, an official in Colombia's armed forces, speaking on condition
of anonymity because of security concerns, insisted the recent busts
have "cracked the facade of the narco's untouchability."

"The narcos are finally getting the idea that we aren't going to allow
what went on before with impunity," the official said.

Kraul is a special correspondent.