"HUMAN RIGHTS DISASTER"

War On Drugs Has Gone All Wrong, Local Witness Says

Witness: Says War On Drugs In Colombia Is Dangerous, Counterproductive

Akron teen-ager Ally Styan wants to tell local residents how a key
battle in the war on drugs is being lost in Colombia.

While the U.S. State Department disagrees with her, two Lancaster
County Congressmen have opposed federal aid packages to Colombia and
agree that money earmarked for the eradication of cocaine there has
probably been misused.

Styan, 18, went to Colombia in January with a local chapter of the
national human rights organization Witness For Peace. The group went
to see how the U.S. government's financial and military support was
being used by the Colombian government.

They were appalled by what they saw.

"There is no decrease in the production of cocaine," Styan said.
"Instead, most of the money has gone to the Colombian military and
has created a human rights disaster."

Styan is not new to protesting the U.S. government's foreign policies.

Most recently, she was acquitted of multiple charges for her role in
a protest outside the 2000 Republican National Convention in
Philadelphia. The demonstration was against the Western Hemisphere
Institute for Security Cooperation, a U.S.-funded school formerly
known as the School of the Americas.

Styan remains active in the protest movement, but also wants to use
the court of public opinion to help raise awareness to the plight of
the Colombian people. Over the next two months, she is set to hold
several talks throughout Lancaster County. The first is scheduled for
7 p.m. March 19 at Community Mennonite Church of Lancaster, 328 W.
Orange St.

"What many people don't realize is that people in Colombia do not
want to be growing cocaine," Styan said. "They grow it because it's
the only way they can make money."

During the Clinton administration, Congress passed a $1.3 billion aid
package for Colombia to bolster the country's military. The money was
to be used mostly for counternarcotics programs like the fumigation
of cocoa fields and the enforcement of the country's drug laws.

To a lesser degree, the money was used for counterinsurgency action
against a number of rebelling factions with a stake in the drug
trade, such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and
the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

Originally called Plan Colombia, the spending measure was changed and
given additional money by the Bush administration and is now called
the Andean Regional Initiative.

"The big thing for the U.S. government has been the fumigation
effort," Styan said. "The problem is that the chemical being sprayed
has never been tested to be used the way it's being used in Colombia."

Planes discharge the chemical so high that it falls not only on the
coca fields, but also people, their homes and their water supplies,
she said.

"Children and elderly people have died," Styan said. "Livestock has
been killed, and the number of birth defects is on the rise."

To make matters worse, the fumigation isn't even working, she said.

"The coca plants are very sturdy," Styan said. "After the fumigation,
farmers simply cut off the tops of the plants. The coca plants stay
alive, but the corn, banana and food crops are destroyed."

U.S. Rep. Joseph R. Pitts, a Kennett Square Republican representing
most of Lancaster County, opposed portions of the federal spending
measure, his aide says.

"Rep. Pitts was very concerned when President Clinton removed all of
the human rights requirements from the aid package," Pitts' spokesman
Gabe Neville said. "There is strong evidence the aid to Colombia may
be used for purposes for which it was not intended."

Pitts is a member of the U.S. International Relations Committee,
though his subcommittee assignment focuses on Middle East and South
Asia activities.

"Congressman Pitts remains very concerned about human rights abuses
in Colombia," Neville said. "The whole issue of human rights has been
one of his top legislative priorities."

U.S. Rep. George W. Gekas, a Harrisburg Republican representing the
northwestern third of Lancaster County, was strong in his opposition
to the Colombian aid package. His spokesman, Kent Wissinger, said
Gekas staged a "protest vote" last year against the budget plan for
two reasons.

"Mr. Gekas believes there isn't any accountability for the anti-drug
program," Wissinger said. "His worry is that the money is instead
being directed to fight a Colombian civil war."

Gekas also thinks the situation could wind up becoming another
Vietnam, Wissinger said.

"First you send money, then you send troops," Wissinger said.

On March 1, the State Department released the International Narcotics
Control Status Report. It details all major U.S. counternarcotics
efforts from all over the globe.

According to the report, "Colombia is the world's leading producer
and distributor of cocaine and a significant supplier of heroin to
the United States." U.S efforts are helping Colombia to remove drugs,
according to the report.

Colombian National Police reported seizing more than 57 metric tons
of cocaine, nearly 27 metric tons of cocaine base, 796 kilograms of
heroin and more than 80 metric tons of marijuana, according to the
report.

The report also defends its use of the herbicide used to eradicate
illicit drug crops.

"It has been tested widely in the United States, Colombia and
elsewhere in the world," the report says. "It is approved by the
(Environmental Protection Agency) for use on crop land on which
numerous crops are grown, forests, residential areas and around
aquatic areas."

The EPA concluded there are no long-term risks to humans, but there
are some reversible short-term risks of eye and skin irritation
during episodes of direct contact with the chemical.

Last month, the peace process between rebels and the Colombian
government fell apart, the report says. And although the U.S.
government continues to support "the peace process by backing
activities that promote a culture of nonviolence in Colombia," it
still plans to broaden the efforts that Styan opposes.

"The aerial eradication program will expand in 2002, with the arrival
of additional Plan Colombia-funded spray aircraft," the report says.
"The Colombian military's counternarcotics role (also) will broaden
in 2002, as plans to institute a second counterdrug brigade progress."

Styan, however, says the Colombian government has not met the
human-rights provisions of its agreement with the United States.

"The Colombian Government is working with paramilitary groups (like
FARC and AUC) which are responsible for 80 percent of the violence in
the country," Styan said. "These groups do the Colombian military's
dirty work. They massacre people who are speaking out against Plan
Colombia or who are occupying land the government wants."