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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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