TOP U.S. DRUG AGENT TARGETS 'MICROCARTELS'

The New DEA Chief In Colombia Says He Aims To Break Up Small Cartels,
Which Have Emerged After The Cali And Medellin Cartels Were Beheaded

BOGOTA - Since Colombia's giant drug cartels were smashed with
American help, ''microcartels'' have emerged that smuggle cocaine and
heroin to the United States, according to the new top U.S. drug agent
in Colombia.

''The head of the mother snake was chopped off . . . but now we have
to chase the baby poisonous snakes, which can be nevertheless just as
venomous,'' David Gaddis told The Associated Press in his first
interview since taking over the Drug Enforcement Administration's
operations in Colombia at the start of the year.

SMALLER CELLS

He said that while the huge Medellin and Cali drug cartels used to
control most phases of trafficking, from production to sales, smaller
cells now specialize in different jobs, like subcontractors.

''In many cases it is specialized, another one of these evolving
dynamics you see in the industry,'' Gaddis said in the interview Tuesday.

''It takes a certain expertise to get the drug from where it grows in
the soil into the streets of Cincinnati, Ohio,'' he said. ``You have
to have people who are organized in the production area, you have to
have people who are organized in brokering the transportation, the
transportation hand-off to the distribution cells.''

Gaddis, 42, was based in Miami in the 1980s when Colombian cocaine
smuggled by Pablo Escobar's Medellin Cartel began flooding the city
and drug-related killings soared.

Now he is trying to break up the other end of the distribution line.
Colombia is the world's biggest producer of cocaine and the main
source of heroin found in the United States.

Earlier this month, Gaddis flew to the southwestern city of Cali to
monitor raids by Colombian authorities that captured eight suspected
drug traffickers wanted in the United States.

COCAINE `TAX'

Speaking from inside the heavily guarded U.S. Embassy in this Andean
capital, Gaddis said he is certain that Colombia's two leftist rebel
groups and their right-wing paramilitary foes are also directly
involved in drug trafficking. The outlawed groups have long been known
to ''tax'' cocaine production.

Gaddis said the DEA will continue to target an umbrella paramilitary
group even though its leaders -- who are wanted in the United States
on drug charges -- have conditioned the demobilization of their forces
on guarantees that they can avoid lengthy prison sentences.

''What we're focused on is working and assisting our Colombian law
enforcement counterparts to continue . . . discovering their
operations, ending their operations, putting them in jail and taking
their assets,'' Gaddis said.

Gaddis takes over from Leo Arreguin Jr., who retired last year during
a wider leadership change in the more than 100-strong DEA contingent
here.

An estimated 5.7 million cocaine users in the United States spent
$35.3 billion on the drug in 2000, according to a report by the White
House Office of National Drug Control Policy released in November.

In addition to cracking down on drug traffickers here, Gaddis also
said drug treatment and rehabilitation programs in the United States
are crucial to ending the drug problem.

''The silver bullet would be a combination of several efforts,'' he
said. ``It's not going to be resolved today, tomorrow or even in the
next year. It's something that's going to take time.''