WASHINGTON, July 30 (UPI) -- The nation's top official in the fight against illegal drugs disputed a U.S. State Department projection that despite reductions in coca production in Colombia, the amount being grown in neighboring countries is increasing.
In a news conference Tuesday in Washington, John P. Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, dismissed data in State Department documents that showed while the aerial eradication of coca farms in Colombia succeeded, growers were moving production into neighboring Peru and Bolivia.
"There was one (Agency for International Development) briefing that was based on nothing I've ever seen," he said. "And no legitimate analysis is projecting an increase (in coca production in the Andean region)... That's a lot of cow manure."
The documents, obtained and first reported by United Press International on July 24, project an initial reduction in coca cultivation -- measured in total hectares -- during 2003, but a general increase when the three countries' outputs are combined in future years.
The document, "Phase IV Scenario: If spray is 50 percent effective -- Projected Coca Cultivation 2002-2006," shows that in 2001, as the number of hectares cultivated in Colombia began to fall, the hectares cultivated in Peru and Bolivia rose sharply. The document graph was provided to congressional staff this month.
Walters disputed this possibility, saying the eradication efforts under way were crimping the production far too much to be overcome by moving production to neighboring countries that lack any direct U.S. eradication efforts such as Plan Colombia.
"We are concerned about that, but I think it's important to note that the reduction in Colombia was massive," Walters said. "The increases are from much smaller bases in Peru and Bolivia."
The multibillion-dollar Plan Colombia is a joint U.S.-Colombian government effort to establish anti-narcotics programs, including military aid and training to the Colombian police and army, the supply of helicopters and their operation, and the aerial spraying of chemicals to kill coca, the raw ingredient for cocaine. The program has been in operation since the late 1990s.
Last week, a State Department official told UPI that for the present year, coca production in the Andean region was expected to be reduced by 8 percent. The official did not supply projections for future years, but said the issue was of serious concern.
"An 8-percent reduction for this year is hardly a tremendous magnitude," said a senior congressional aide, when told of Walter's comments. "And he's throwing his own administration's figures overboard. This document came from State. They even showed it to the Peruvians."
According to the document's projections, the overall coca cultivation in the region increased from 2000 to 2002 before dropping off somewhat through 2002. After 2003 -- when the chart relies on projections supplied by the State Department -- coca production in the Andes drops off significantly until mid-2004, when it spikes upward through 2005.
The overall increases derive from State Department estimates, which are reflected in the document, that coca cultivation will dramatically tail off in Colombia through the next 3 years, accompanied by a significant increase in production by Bolivia and Peru.
The congressional aide said that while Plan Colombia has been successful on some levels -- namely aiding the Colombian government in its fight against local insurgencies -- it is not reducing the overall flow of drugs to the United States.
The Colombian government has been battling the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by it Spanish acronym, FARC for almost 40 years, as well as a bevy of other left-wing and right-wing paramilitary groups. FARC is believed to use the drugs trade to partially finance its operations.
"Look, Plan Colombia is saving the Colombian government and the terrorized Colombian people from the FARC and paras," the aide said. "But hitting the rebels in their pocketbook isn't changing the production of cocaine or heroin from the region. The American taxpayers deserve success on both."
