13 March 2002
State Dept. Officials Point to Drugs-Terrorism Ties in the Americas
(Cite "historic link" between terrorist groups and narcotics
trafficking) (530)
By Domenick DiPasquale
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- Two senior State Department officials have documented
the symbiotic relationship that exists between drug trafficking
organizations and terrorist groups in Latin America and other regions
of the world.
In joint testimony submitted March 13, Assistant Secretary of State
for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Rand Beers and
Ambassador-at-Large for Counterterrorism Francis Taylor detailed the
mutually beneficial results that accrue to terrorists and traffickers
who cooperate with each other. The two officials appeared before the
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism, and Government
Information.
"Drug traffickers benefit from the terrorists' military skills,
weapons supply, and access to clandestine organizations," Taylor said.
"Terrorists gain a source of revenue and expertise in illicit transfer
and laundering of proceeds from illicit transactions."
According to the two officials, a "historic link" exists in the
Western Hemisphere between various terrorist groups and narcotics
trafficking. Three specific geographical areas of concern were listed:
Colombia, Peru, and the frontier area of Paraguay near the city of
Ciudad del Este that borders both Argentina and Brazil.
"The linkage between drugs and terrorism in Colombia is one that
particularly concerns us and one that we watch carefully," the
officials said, noting that the country's three main insurgent groups
-- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the National
Liberation Army (ELN), and the United Self-Defense Groups of Colombia
(AUC) -- are all tied to narcotics trafficking.
Some FARC units throughout southern Colombia raise funds through
extortion of both legal and illegal businesses, protection of
cocaine-refining laboratories, and involvement in local
drug-trafficking activities.
Colombian territory under the influence of the ELN includes areas used
to grow opium poppy and cannabis. Although the ELN expresses a disdain
for illegal drugs, it "does take advantage of the profits available,"
the officials said.
The AUC, which includes many Colombian paramilitary forces, has
admitted using the cocaine trade to finance its activities. In their
statement, Beers and Taylor noted that the head of the AUC, Carlos
Castano, said in 2000 that "70 percent" of AUC operational funding was
derived from drug money.
In Peru, the remote geographic areas in which Sendero Luminoso
(Shining Path) guerrillas historically operated, combined with the
group's reliance on violence to protect safe havens, made Sendero
Luminoso "a natural to engage in protection and extortion rackets
involving coca and cocaine," Beers and Taylor observed.
After having "cut a brutal swath through Peru" from the 1980s through
mid-1990s, Sendero Luminose waned in the late 1990s, according to the
two officials. They said that by 2001, however, the group had a
"slight resurgence" in areas of Peru where coca is cultivated and
processed, an indication that remnants of Sendero Luminoso are
probably financing their operations with profits derived from the drug
trade.
Beers and Taylor pointed to Paraguay's tri-border region as a final
area of concern in Latin America. They indicated that members of
radical Islamic groups there are reported to be engaged in drug
trafficking, money laundering, intellectual property rights piracy,
alien smuggling, and arms trafficking.
The full text of Beers' and Taylor's prepared testimony is available
on the Internet at:
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