DATE=8/18/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=COLOMBIA FARC - DRUGS
NUMBER=5-44083
BYLINE=BILL RODGERS
DATELINE=RIO DE JANEIRO
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO:
///// ED'S: SPANISH ACT IN BUBBLE /////
INTRO: U-S and Colombian officials are stressing the
ties between leftist rebel groups and drug traffickers
as a way to emphasize the need for more aid to the
violence-torn nation. But as Correspondent Bill
Rodgers reports from our South American Bureau, some
analysts say the official rhetoric may be overheated
to justify greater involvement by the United States in
Colombia.
TEXT: According to estimates, three-fourths of the
world's cocaine comes from Colombia -- and the
production of heroin also is rising rapidly. U-S and
Colombian officials say one major reason for this is
that drug dealers benefit from the protection of armed
groups in Colombia -- ranging from leftist rebels to
right-wing paramilitary organizations.
Two main guerrilla groups -- the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, FARC, and the National Liberation
Army, E-L-N, control 40-percent of Colombia's
territory. At the same time, paramilitary bands roam
at will through much of the Colombian countryside,
murdering anyone suspected of aiding the rebels. All
these groups obtain at least some of their funding
from those involved in the drug trade.
White House drug policy director, Barry McCaffrey,
says estimates of the money received by these groups
may be as high as 600-million dollars.
/// MCCAFFREY ACT ///
The range of numbers that I hear, depending on
which study you accept, is somewhere between
215-million and 600-million-dollars a year,
(which) flows primarily into the FARC. Two-
thirds of their units, we say, are in some way
associated with the drug trade. The rule of
thumb we've been using is about one third of the
E-L-N units, and now a growing number of these
paramilitary criminal organizations (also are
involved).
/// END ACT ///
The FARC -- which is the largest, and best-equipped
guerrilla group in Colombia -- has been fighting the
government for more than 35-years. Mr. McCaffrey says
drug money sustains the FARC's struggle.
/// MCCAFFREY ACT ///
In the southern part of the country, three of
these FARC fronts are guarding the growing
fields, the airfields where they take off, the
laboratories. They are in some cases
transporting drugs. But I think, and as the
Colombian authorities will argue, they get their
cut before the drugs leave the area. So when
you seize four tons of cocaine 960-kilometers
out in the eastern Pacific, the FARC already got
paid. Now, to what extent is that sustaining
this force -- I think that is the explanation
for 25-thousand armed insurgents with shiny, new
camouflage uniforms and automatic weapons, and
the corruption power of this money that comes
out of these criminal organizations is enormous.
I think the money is the problem.
/// END ACT ///
Stopping this flow of drug money is part of the new
strategy by Colombia's armed forces. The first of
several anti-narcotics battalions is being trained to
directly engage guerrilla forces protecting the drug
traffickers.
The United States is providing equipment and training
for the new battalion, and is considering a sizeable
increase in the 289-million-dollars in anti-narcotics
aid available for Colombia. The South American
nation, which is already the third-largest recipient
of U-S aid after Israel and Egypt, may end up
receiving the largest share of a proposed multi-year,
billion-dollar anti-narcotics aid program for the
region.
But some analysts believe the proposed aid -- and the
potential for deeper U-S involvement in Colombia --
accounts for the heightened rhetoric against the
guerrillas' drug ties. They say by emphasizing the
rebel drug connection, officials in both countries are
trying to generate broader support for the new
strategy.
Colombian political scientist Alfredo Range is among
those who believes Washington may become more deeply
involved in Colombia. He says a distinction has to be
made about the FARC and drugs.
/// RANGEL SPANISH ACT & VOICEOVER ///
The FARC is not a drug cartel; it is not a
Mafia. It is an armed political group that has
opted to go to war to bring about radical change
in the country's social, economic and political
system. The fact that the FARC obtains up to
40-percent of its resources from drug
trafficking does not take away from its
political aims, and does not turn it into a
Mafia organization. It is important to make
this distinction, that the FARC uses these
resources from drug trafficking, and kidnappings
and other criminal activity, not for its
personal enrichment, like drug dealers do, but
to strengthen its war apparatus against the
Colombian state.
/// END ACT ///
// OPT // Mr. Rangel, who has written several books
about the FARC, says dealing with the guerrillas will
be much more difficult for the government than if it
were simply trying to crush a powerful drug cartel.
He says by agreeing to open peace talks with the FARC,
the government has, in effect, recognized the group's
political nature.
/// RANGEL SPANISH ACT & VOICEOVER ///
So these are two different phenomenons, the drug
cartels and the FARC -- and they require two
different approaches. When the government
decided to open a dialogue with the FARC, it
recognized its political character and it has
even recognized a certain political legitimacy
of the FARC. It is only on this basis that an
agenda for negotiation could have been agreed to
between the national government and the FARC, an
agenda that includes the principal aspects of
Colombia's social, economic, and political life.
/// END ACT // END OPT ///
But the peace process between the government and the
FARC is at an impasse. Formal talks have yet to open
because of a dispute over establishing a verification
commission. This leaves the way open for the
Colombian armed forces, with U-S help, to continue
pursuing its new strategy of targeting the source of
the guerrillas' money -- drugs. (SIGNED)
NEB/WFR/RAE
18-Aug-1999 13:12 PM LOC (18-Aug-1999 1712 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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