Index

DATE=10-10-2000

TYPE=Background-Feature Report

TITLE=Colombia-Drugs

NUMBER=5-47147

BYLINE=Rhoda Metcalfe

DATELINE=Puerto Guzman, Colombia.

CONTENT=

INTRO: A controversial new anti-narcotics strategy is about to be launched in Colombia that's suppose to cut in half that country's production of coca leaf -- the raw material for cocaine -- over the next five years. The strategy, known as Plan Colombia is based on two main components -- a mass campaign of aerial fumigation to kill the coca crops, and the creation of new anti-narcotics squads to fight the left-wing guerrillas that control much of this region and protect the crops. The US government is throwing more than a billion dollars into the strategy -- including 60 helicopters and troop training. Rhoda Metcalfe travelled to the coca-growing region and discovered that the anti-drug strategy is not all military. Both U-S and Colombian government officials now realize they must also offer small coca farmers a way out of the drug trade.

TEXT:

/// SOUND -- MUSIC, MARKET SOUNDS ///

It's market day in the riverside town of Puerto Guzman. Restaurants are blaring music and farmers are knocking back a few afternoon beer. But despite the festive sound, there's desperation in the air -- and in the faces of many local farmers, like Rosalba Madronyero. She has nothing to sell at the market. Like dozens of farmers around here, her plantain and cassava crops were killed earlier this year by police airplanes.

/// Madronyero act in Spanish///

"The wind blew the chemicals over our pastures, dried them out too," she says. She bows her head, to hide the tears shining in her eyes. "We had to sell off most of our animals, Just kept a few for milk. Life's always been hard here. But with the fumigation, it's a lot worse. Around here, almost everyone's a small farmer, with a few acres of coca alongside their food crops. But the fumigation kills everything.",she said.

The desperation of farmers here is part of the reason the U-S government aid agency AID chose this place to launch its first alternative crop project in southern Colombia.

George Wachtenheim, head of USAID in Colombia, explains that Colombia's been fumigating for 15 years with little success and that's taught them something -- Fumigation won't stop small farmers from growing coca, unless you offer them some other way to survive.

/// Wachtenheim act ///

These people would really like to get out of the drug culture. They all talk about not wanting their kids to grow up in the same kind of situation that they're in. With the violence and prostitution and ah. But they also need income. And that's what we're hoping to help provide.

/// End act ///

/// SOUND -- COWS MOOING ///

The idea of the project is that farmers will first go back to basics. They'll get money to start up food crops and buy a few cows -- to keep the family from starving. While aid workers look for more innovative cash crops, that could be introduced in two or three years. For now, the Colombian police have been told to stop their fumigation of small farmers, to focus instead on spraying the big coca plantations -- which produce about half the coca in the region. While small farmers will be given a grace period of one year to manually pull out their coca plants and replace them.

Even critics of the US anti-drug strategy, like Winifred Tate from the human rights agency WOLA -- the Washington Office on Latin America -- admit that these alternative projects are a positive step. But Ms. Tate warns the one-year time line is too short.

/// Tate act ///

These people are farmers. Crops take a long time to grow. There a lot of questions about marketing. This is an ecologically delect area. There's a lot of flooding. You can't guarantee someone a sustainable crop in the course of one year and I think that's one of the real questions these communities have about these manual eradication programs.

/// End act ///

But U-S officials believe many farmers are so fearful of losing everything to fumigation, they are willing to make this rapid change over.

/// SOUND -- DRIVING DOWN BUMPY ROAD ///

But the obstacles to finding viable alternatives are daunting. The roads in Putumayo are spine-jarringly bad and major markets are far away. So far, the U-S government has budgeted 20 million dollars for roads and bridges. And 42 million more for crop assistance and community development as part of the anti-drug strategy.

The Colombian government has earmarked another 15 million dollars. But its going to take alot more money than that to make this backwoods region competitive. And Colombia has little spare. It's in an economic crisis. The soil in Putumayo is also very fragile and acidic. This is the Amazon. Very few crops thrive in these hot humid conditions.

/// SOUND CONSTRUCTION ///

This plant under construction in Putumayo may offer one option. It'll process locally grown palm hearts known here as palmito, a tropical delicacy with a big market in Europe. The problem with export products is marketing. Government attempts to develop alternative crops in the past were so badly designed they fell on their face. It's made other foreign governments reluctant to throw money in. Guillermo Rishchynski is Canada's ambassador to Colombia.

/// Rishchynski act ///

There have been examples of palmito and other crops which were put out as potential alternatives only to see the market saturated with them and many of the products not even reaching the large domestic markets in Colombia, let alone markets abroad. It's more than just telling campesinos (farmers) to grow another crop. It's about creating the infrastructure and the marketing tools necessary to ensure that economic viability results from that. And that s a tall order.

/// End act ///

Both U-S and Colombian officials say they're now doing serious market research into the viability of alternative products -- particularly native tropical plants and spices, which could find a lucrative market in the perfume and natural health industry.

The real wild card will be the left-wing guerrillas. They control much of this region and stand to lose millions in drug profits if these programs succeed. They may resort to sabotage.

Next week, guerrilla leaders will meet with Colombian civilian and government officials in Costa Rica to discuss the anti-drug strategy. Rebel will be under pressure to make clear their position on alternative development in the coca region. (Signed)

NEB/RM/TVM/PT