CNN
August 26, 1999

U.S. drug czar in Peru amid Andes narcotics crisis

 
                  LIMA, Peru (Reuters) -- U.S. drugs czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey met
                  Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori on Thursday to coordinate the
                  anti-narcotics fight in one the world's top producing nations, government
                  officials said.

                  Neither of the men commented in public at the end of the talks, which lasted
                  about an hour and 40 minutes.

                  McCaffrey, warning of a "growing drug crisis" in Andean nations, hopes to
                  bolster cooperation to thwart smugglers as cocaine output in Colombia soars
                  and production of the raw material -- coca leaf -- flourishes in neighbouring
                  Peru.

                  McCaffrey's second trip to South America within a month reflects
                  heightened U.S. concern that chaos in war-torn Colombia could destabilise
                  a region that has made progress this decade in economic and democratic
                  reforms.

                  The drugs czar has been urging national leaders on this trip, which also
                  includes Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia, to treat Colombia's difficulties as a
                  regional problem.

                  Bogota's government is battling to contain leftist guerrillas financed by drug
                  money. The country provides about 80 percent of the world's cocaine,
                  obtaining much of the coca leaf from Peru.

                  With the White House convinced Colombia's drug and insurgency problems
                  cannot be divorced from each other, McCaffrey is pressing for the United
                  States to triple its anti-drugs aid for Latin America to $1 billion next year.

                  Fujimori is in the vanguard of regional efforts to contain Colombia's
                  guerrillas, who control two-thirds of the countryside in areas bordering Peru,
                  Venezuela, Brazil and Ecuador.

                  This year, Fujimori has sent extra troops to the 1,000-mile (1,600-km)
                  border with Colombia and warned rebels there they can expect no mercy if
                  they cross the Amazon frontier.

                  Fujimori's achievements this decade in defeating once- powerful rebels and
                  slashing drug output have set a standard for other regional leaders like
                  Colombian President Andres Pastrana. His policies included orders to shoot
                  down aircraft used by traffickers.

                  But last month, McCaffrey, who in recent years has praised Peru's
                  anti-narcotics efforts as "revolutionary," said gains made by Lima could be
                  eroded as farmers return to abandoned fields of coca leaf.

                  Peru's anti-drugs campaign has faltered over the last year as traffickers
                  smuggle coca through the Amazon to neighbouring countries -- especially
                  Colombia -- on foot, by mule or boat.

                  Prices have about doubled since mid-1998, providing an increased incentive
                  for coca leaf cultivation.

                  The booming trade in Colombia and Peru contrasts with Bolivia, which
                  McCaffrey believes could eliminate all cocaine production within a few years
                  thanks to its model policies eradicating coca fields and helping farmers to
                  shift to legal crops.