DATE=7/1/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=COLOMBIA - FARC - DRUGS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263960
BYLINE=RHODA METCALFE
DATELINE=BOGOTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: In Colombia, diplomats from 21 embassies,
most of them European, completed a
two-day meeting Friday in the demilitarized zone,
controlled by the left-wing FARC (Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia) guerrilla group, to discuss
eradication of drug crops and the environment.
Colombian farmers produce most of the cocaine and much
of the heroin sold
in North America. The Colombian government has
accused Left Wing guerrillas and Right Wing
paramilitary groups of protecting the illicit crops
and profiting from them. This week the US Congress
passed a 1.3 billion dollar military
aid package aimed at destroying Colombia's drug crops
but many European countries represented at the two day
meeting oppose the military approach to the drug
problem. Rhoda Metcalfe has more on the story from
Bogota.
TEXT: // Begin with act. of man yelling, crowd
clapping, fade under//
IT wasn't just a chat with the guerrillas. The
delegation of almost 100 diplomats also came
face to face with the wrath of Colombia's coca
farmers, brought in to explain their situation.
//act. of Guillermo Penya speaking Spanish, fade
under//
We plant coca, because there's nothing else for us to
live on. The government's abandoned
us, Farmer's leader Guillermo Penya told the
diplomats. Migrant farmers like Mr. Penya are expected
to be the front-line victims of the
US military aid --which includes 60 helicopters to be
used in mass chemical spraying to wipe
out drug fields.
But many European governments believe the US strategy
is misguided and highly destructive.
Fumigation has so far been a failure here and has only
driven farmers to move deeper into
the Amazon valley where they are cutting more of the
forest to make fields.
//act. of Raul Reyes speaking Spanish, fade under//
At the end of the meeting, rebel leader Raul Reyes
announced that the rebels and the
European embassies had agreed to start working
together to develop a more environmentally-friendly
strategy for drug eradication -- using crop
substitution.
So far, only the United States has actually reached
into its pocket to support its
approach to drugs and war in Colombia.
Next week, in Madrid, these European governments will
meet again, this time with U-S
representatives involved, to see if they can find some
balance between force, ecology and
peace in their approach to the drug problem in
Colombia. (Signed)
NEB/RM/PLM
01-Jul-2000 02:54 AM EDT (01-Jul-2000 0654 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
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