01 March 2002

U.S. Notes Successes in Counter-Drug Strategy for Western Hemisphere

Annual report cites advances in coca eradication, criminal extraditions

By Domenick DiPasquale
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- A long-term effort among the nations of the Western Hemisphere to curb the flow of cocaine and heroin into the United States has "systematically narrowed the drug syndicates' maneuvering room," according to the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report released by the State Department March 1.

The report noted that the combination of interdiction efforts, demand reduction programs, tightened financial controls, arrests and extraditions of major drug traffickers, and attacks on the expansion of illicit coca and opium poppy crop cultivation played a significant role in the United States' international counternarcotics strategy.

Cocaine, heroin, and synthetic amphetamine-type stimulants are the three drugs of most concern to the United States, according to the report. All the cocaine and most of the heroin entering the United States originate in the Western Hemisphere.

"The United States government devoted a large portion of its counternarcotics resources to attacking Colombian coca cultivation, while working to prevent a resurgence of coca in Peru and Bolivia," the report said. Coca cultivation in the latter two nations remained essentially stable in 2001, with U.S. government surveys showing 34,000 hectares of such cultivation in Peru and 19,900 hectares in Bolivia -- a drop of approximately 70 percent in each country over the past six years.

Although aerial eradication efforts in Colombia destroyed thousands of hectares of coca under cultivation, the report said that overall coca production in that country probably increased in 2001. It pointed to the change in cultivation patterns that began in 1996, when the alliance of drug traffickers and the Colombian guerrilla movement FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) shifted most coca growing from Peru and Bolivia into the southwest corner of Colombia that it controls.

To combat the narco-guerrilla alliance that has developed in Colombia, the United States provided a $1.3 billion ($1,300 million) assistance plan in 2000 to support the Colombian government's "Plan Colombia," which combined economic and social development projects with counternarcotics initiatives. Last year, the Bush Administration proposed the Andean Regional Initiative, the largest part of which will be used to fund the Andean Counterdrug Initiative. That initiative will expand counternarcotics programs begun under Plan Colombia, but will also increase law enforcement and alternative development support to neighboring countries in the region threatened by narcotics trafficking.

Examining the problem of heroin, the report said that although Colombia and Mexico represent only a fraction of the overall world production of opium poppy, most of the heroin entering the United States originates in those two nations. While net Mexican cultivation of opium poppy increased from 1,900 hectares in 2000 to 4,400 hectares in 2001, Mexico did eradicate 17,000 hectares of the crop in 2001.

To attack trafficking in cocaine and heroin, the United States has used a variety of law enforcement efforts. "Law enforcement authorities in key countries continued to weaken the drug syndicates by arresting their key figures and operatives," the report said. As one such example, it noted a law enforcement drive in Mexico last year that resulted in the arrest of several major traffickers.

Extradition is another important weapon against the drug trade, according to the report, because traffickers are subject to long sentences in the United States and cannot use bribes or intimidation to evade the law.

"Cooperation on extradition has made great strides, especially in the Western Hemisphere," the report said. "In 2001, the number of extraditions from Colombia to the United States skyrocketed."

The 23 Colombians extradited last year, with another eight in the final stage of the removal process, represent an increase of nearly 700 percent over the previous three-year period. Among those extradited were drug kingpins Alejandro "Juvenal" Bernal-Madrigal and Fabio Ochoa-Vasquez, both former associates of the notorious Colombian trafficker Pablo Escobar.

The report said that important advances against money laundering were made domestically and internationally in 2001, with the September 11 terrorist attacks adding urgency to the effort. It noted that, among other regional organizations of its kind, the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force continued to advance anti-money laundering initiatives in its 25 jurisdictions within the Caribbean Basin.

The full text of the 2002 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report is available on the U.S. Department of State web site http://www.state.gov/g/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2001/.