By LARRY ROHTER

          PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Sensing a singular opportunity in a country weakened by a
          paralyzed government and an inexperienced police force, Colombian and Dominican drug
          traffickers have made Haiti the fastest-growing transit point for cocaine on its way to the United
          States, American and Haitian law enforcement officials say.

          Barry McCaffrey, the retired general who is President Clinton's drug policy director, visited in early
          October and described the situation as "clearly an emergency," warning that Haiti had become "the
          principal focus" of groups trafficking drugs in the Caribbean. In an interview here, Pierre Denize,
          chief of the Haitian National Police, offered an almost identical assessment.

          "The intensity of the problem is new and the capacity of law enforcement, at least in the Republic of
          Haiti, is very limited," he said. "We have limited resources, limited training, limited intelligence and
          investigative capacity, and a very, very limited capacity to control a coast that, geographically, is just
          across the street from Colombia."

          American officials estimate that 15 percent of all the cocaine consumed in the United States now
          passes through Haiti, about four tons a month. By their calculation, that figure has doubled in little
          more than a year, and is, they say, in large part a result of their increased success in blocking
          smuggling routes farther east in the Caribbean, in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

          All along Haiti's southern coast, indications of landings by fast boats from Colombia have increased,
          as have reports of airdrops in coastal waters. Seizures at the airport here are up, especially on flights
          from places near Colombia, like Panama and the Netherlands Antilles. U.S. Customs officials have
          noted a corresponding increase in drugs found aboard Haitian freighters docking in Miami.

          Another sign of the surge in drug trafficking is that the Drug Enforcement Administration and other
          American agencies are beefing up their presence here and trying to forge closer ties with Haitian
          agencies that are weak and inefficient. From just one agent here a year ago, the DEA contingent is to
          grow to seven.

          In an interview here, Robert Manuel, Haiti's secretary of state for public security, acknowledged that
          his country was the "point of least resistance" in the region, and thus an attractive target to the
          cocaine cartels. That is an inevitable result, he said, of having to organize from scratch a
          6,000-member civilian police force, a process he called "a nightmare."

          After the landing of 20,000 American troops here four years ago, the Haitian armed forces, which
          included a police force headed by an officer later indicted in the United States on drug trafficking
          charges, were abolished. The new police force includes a small coast guard, but that force has one
          base and fewer than 10 vessels. Most of those are fast boats confiscated from Colombian traffickers
          and only about half of them are working at any one time.

          Haiti is also the poorest country in the hemisphere, and that appeals greatly to traffickers.

          "This is a cheaper place" for cartels to operate than Mexico or the Dominican Republic, an American
          official here said, with a huge pool of hungry people desperate for any kind of work. "Laborers earn
          15 cents an hour, so getting people to risk their lives is less difficult" and the bribes that have to be
          paid are smaller, the official said.

          But Haiti's traditional vulnerability has been amplified by a political squabble between two factions of
          the Lavalas movement, which has been in power since American troops deposed a military
          dictatorship four years ago. The political crisis, which has lasted 16 months, has left the country
          without a functioning government.

          "They are always searching for the fissures, and they found one in Haiti," McCaffrey said of the drug
          cartels.

          With the Haitian Parliament unable even to assemble a quorum, several important drug-related
          legislative proposals are stalled. Among them are a drug interdiction cooperation treaty with the
          United States, bills that would increase penalties for drug trafficking, possession or use, and
          comprehensive money-laundering legislation.

          "I recently arrested a gentleman going to Panama who was carrying $1 million on his person," Denize
          said. "He said to me, 'Chief, you should have told me you were arresting people and waited for a
          day when I was really moving money.' He also assured me there was absolutely no law or regulation
          he was violating, which turned out to be absolutely true."

          Haitian and American officials said that at least 60 Colombians have been arrested on drug charges
          here in recent months. But because of the government's inability to draft a budget to keep the judicial
          system afloat, a shortage of judges and official corruption, it is not clear how many Colombian
          prisoners have been tried or convicted.

          "There have been some small victories," but many judges are "not competent, scared and
          underpaid," Manuel said. "We are missing the judicial tools we need," he added, and the result is that
          "when violators get arrested, they get released by an inefficient and corrupt judicial system."

          In public remarks, several members of the Haitian Congress have asserted that much of the drug
          trade here is controlled by former military and police officers who changed loyalties and are now
          associates of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

          American officials say they are investigating the matter, but emphasize, as one put it, that there is as
          yet "no evidence that could lead to a prosecution."

          When asked about the accusations, Denize said, "I would need a definition of 'entourage."' Manuel
          dismissed much of the talk as the product of "a very low level of politics."

          Aristide himself was said to be traveling and unavailable for comment, but in the past he has
          dismissed such charges as attacks by his political opponents.

          Ira Kurzban, an American lawyer who is general counsel for the government of Haiti and a member
          of the board of the Aristide Foundation for Democracy, described the allegations against Aristide's
          associates as part of "a concerted campaign of disinformation" intended to soil the former president's
          political image.

          "Both the former and the current president are really committed to doing something about drugs,
          which they recognize as a long-term threat to the stability of democracy in Haiti," Kurzban said. "But
          they need a great deal of help from the United States, and that help has not been forthcoming in a
          sufficient way."

          American policy clearly is to continue to do everything possible to fortify the police and judicial
          system here. But there also seems to be a recognition that so long as the current paralysis continues,
          the best results in interdicting drugs are likely to come from working around, rather than in, Haiti.

          "We have got to get a continuous U.S. presence offshore and keep drugs from getting into Haiti,"
          McCaffrey said. "Our U.S. defenses have to be on the far side of Haiti and the near side of Haiti so
          that Haiti isn't overwhelmed by these incredibly organized and violent drug criminals."
 
 

                     Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company