Hearing of the House Government Reform Committee on the War of Drugs and Thugs: A Status Report on Colombia Successes and Remaining Challenges
Federal News Service
HEADLINE: HEARING OF THE HOUSE GOVERNMENT REFORM COMMITTEE SUBJECT: THE WAR ON DRUGS AND THUGS: A STATUS REPORT ON PLAN COLOMBIA SUCCESSES AND REMAINING CHALLENGES
CHAIRED BY: REPRESENTATIVE TOM DAVIS (R-VA)
WITNESSES PANEL I:
JOHN P. WALTERS, DIRECTOR, U.S. OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY;
PANEL II:
LUIS ALBERTO MORENO, AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, REPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA; ROGER F. NORIEGA, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR WESTERN HEMISPHERE AFFAIRS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE; ROBERT B. CHARLES, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AFFAIRS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE; THOMAS W. O'CONNELL, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR SPECIAL OPERATIONS AND LOW-INTENSITY CONFLICT, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE;
GENERAL JAMES T. HILL, COMMANDER, U.S. SOUTHERN COMMAND; KAREN P. TANDY, ADMINISTRATOR, U.S. DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION;
PANEL III: CARLOS PLOTTER, FORMER POLITICAL COMMANDER, REVOLUTIONARY ARMED FORCES OF COLOMBIA (FARC);
DR. MARC W. CHERNICK, VISITING ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN SERVICE; ADAM ISACSON, DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS, CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL POLICY
LOCATION: 2154 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.
BODY:
REP. TOM DAVIS (R-VA): Well, good afternoon. And my remarks said good morning, but we got delayed by votes, so we'll have members coming in.
I want to welcome everybody to today's oversight hearing on Plan Colombia, an important component of the United States' foreign aid and counter-narcotics policy. Today we'll examine the U.S. government's support and contributions to the progress being made in Colombia in fighting drug trafficking and international crime and improving economic and social conditions.
Since its inception in 1999, Plan Colombia has been an integrated strategy to meet the most pressing challenges confronting the country today, promoting the peace process, combating narco-terrorism, reviving the economy and strengthening the democratic pillars of society. The combined efforts of several of our government agencies who are here testifying today are providing assistance to meet these challenges and improve the stability and future of Colombia.
Not only is Colombia one of the oldest democracies in our hemisphere, but it is also home to three terrorist groups who fund guerilla activities with drugs smuggled into the United States for American consumption. Colombia is a significant source of cocaine and heroin for the U.S. market. As many of us are well aware, the drug trade has a terrible and destructive impact on Americans through addiction, drug related crimes and death. Because drug trafficking and the guerilla insurgency have become intertwined problems, Congress has granted the U.S. expanded authority and increased flexibility to fight narco-terrorism and reduce the flow of illicit drugs into the U.S.
I led three Congressional delegations to Colombia last year and can say first hand that our significant investment after years of effort is beginning to see returns on the time, the money and the resources spent in Colombia. Together with the strong commitment of President Alvaro Uribe and historic levels of support from the Colombian people, U.S. involvement is beginning to get narco- terrorists where it hurts.
Some European left wing politicians and human rights groups claim the Uribe administration has failed to honor commitments on human rights. They've also criticized new Colombian anti-terrorism laws passed in December. But I think the view from Bogota looks very different, and I think the European left may be guilty of clinging to an overly romantic, na?ve opinion of the guerillas.
The mask is off the lone ranger. These are not idealistic liberators, they're thugs and terrorists, funded by the illicit drug trade. The fact is President Uribe continues to enjoy unprecedented support from the Colombian people because his no nonsense strategy is producing results. He's popular because Colombians feel safer. Men, women and children once afraid to hit the road to visit family and friends for fear of kidnapping or worse are now doing so.
A publicly recognized state presence now extends the towns and villages that for decades had been rebel territory. We're seeing tremendous results in illegal crop eradication and Plan Colombia's efforts to produce record reductions in coca production and the destruction of drug labs. Net coca production in Colombia dropped from 355,347 acres in 2002 to 280,071 acres in 2003, a stunning 33 percent decline from the peak growing year of 2001.
Interdiction efforts by the government of Colombia have increased significantly, and each week brings news of new seizures of cocaine and heroin, interdictions that are usually the result of U.S. supplied intelligence. Eradication coupled with increasing successful interdiction efforts is a key to our war on narco-terrorism, reducing profitability and slowly but surely leading farmers to abandon coca in favor of other legitimate crops.
Ultimately that in turn will leave less cocaine on American streets. Criminals who have remained at large for years are being captured and extradited to the U.S. for prosecution. Colombia extradited 90 suspects to the United States in the first 16 months of the Uribe administration, quite an accomplishment considering that five years ago it offered up just one of its citizens to the U.S. justice system.
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REP. BETTY McCOLLUM (D-MN): Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Sir, if I understand your testimony and some information that I have, it's correct that the coca farmers are growing in smaller plots in places like state park, correct?
MR. WALTERS: There's some. It's a small portion of the overall growth, but there is some movement to state parks.
REP. McCOLLUM: And would you agree also with some information that I've read, that the plants that the farmers are growing now actually produce more leaves per plant?
MR. WALTERS: We have adjusted our estimate not so much in leaf but of the so-called alkaloid of the cocaine substance that's extracted from the leaf. It's not necessarily more leaves. There have been adjustments up and down based on field tests in Colombia so we get reliable estimates of what is being produced, but there has not been in the last couple of years --
REP. McCOLLUM: I'd like my time back, please. I think you answered my question. So you're saying that some of the plants can actually produce more --
MR. WALTERS: Yeah. There are different varieties of coca, they are different levels but there has not been a --
REP. McCOLLUM: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
MR. WALTERS: For the record, please-if I can answer the question?
REP. McCOLLUM: I only have a few minutes, and I know you're trying to --
MR. WALTERS: Well, I'd like to answer the question, Mr. Chairman.
REP. DAVIS: It's her time.
MR. WALTERS: Okay.
REP. McCOLLUM: Thank you.
Would you-so you're saying that the amount of --
REP. DAVIS: Go ahead.
REP. McCOLLUM: Would you say that the amount of coca coming in to the United States is down?
MR. WALTERS: We have not seen the flow change, we expect based on intelligence estimates to see the beginnings of that change in the next 12 months.
REP. McCOLLUM: Would you say that the amount of this byproduct from the plant has increased in Europe and increased in use in Latin America?
MR. WALTERS: Not over the last couple of years, but there has been growth over the last five to 10 years in consumption in Brazil, in Europe and in some of the producing transit countries.
REP. McCOLLUM: Could you tell me if production is up in Ecuador and Peru and Brazil then?
MR. WALTERS: There has not been significant increases, as I referred to earlier, in Peru and Brazil, and we do not detect significant cultivation in Ecuador or any movement to Ecuador at this point.
REP. McCOLLUM: I was in Peru recently and people that I spoke with in Peru feel that it's up, that it's up in the very remote areas where it's hard to detect. I've already seen similar patterns as to what they're using with growing the smaller plots right away so it's not as easily detectable.
Do we have relationships and programs as this production moves into other countries to eradicate?
MR. WALTERS: In the countries where there is-the principle cultivation in Peru and Bolivia, we do. We also have some counter- narcotics activity in Ecuador. I'm not aware that there's a significant amount of eradication going on, because we don't detect significant amounts of cultivation in Ecuador. But we are watching those countries and we take reports even in the countries that we're working with of cultivation seriously and try to target our ability to observe and estimate on the basis of reports of growing in new areas.
REP. McCOLLUM: Mr. Chair, if I could, just two more quick questions? Thank you. Because I know the power went out and I noticed the lights went out, thank you, Mr. Chair, for your courtesy.
I have some information in front of me that six planes crashed in doing the spraying. Do you have any information on that? Were those U.S. purchased planes? Contract planes that we have paid for indirectly?
MR. WALTERS: I'm not sure over what period of time. There have been-some of the spray planes have crashed. One aircraft went down just recently and essentially all those spray aircraft are part of the program funded by the U.S. government. We have replaced some of them, I think we have a total six aircraft being delivered this year.
But there certainly haven't been in six aircraft in a brief period of time, that would be over several years.
REP. McCOLLUM: I will show you the information I have afterwards or get it to your office, but I have information that six spray planes crashed last year. The contractors-do we have contractors that the United States government is contracted with in this drug eradication? Who is responsible if those contractors are killed, permanently injured or kidnapped?
MR. WALTERS: Well, we take care of our personnel as well as those who work for the United States. What we try to do first and foremost obviously is to protect the people working there from initial harm. We do have, as you'd know, three individuals who have been taken hostage by the FARC. We have made clear that we demand the release of these individuals.
There is a $5 million reward for the individuals who were responsible for their kidnapping. There is also a reward for helping to aid in the release of these individuals. We are working to get their safe release. They are being held we believe in very remote areas at this point, and of course it is difficult to plan and execute the safe release, and we are continuing aggressively with the Colombians, as we have since they were taken and we will continue but our goal is their safe release.
REP. McCOLLUM: Well, Mr. Chair, I'm concerned that we have-for the families, for the individuals who have been kidnapped, but we do not pay dollars, to my knowledge, when our service personnel, people who are in the armed forces as a career, we do not pay money for hostages yet we do for U.S. contractors.
Does that put them at a greater risk?
MR. WALTERS: Let me be clear. We're not paying ransom for these hostages. We will never do that. We're not negotiating with the FARC for their release. We have a reward for the apprehension of the leaders of the FARC that are believed to be responsible for their kidnapping. We also have a reward program to encourage people to come forward and help in their release, but that's not the ransom. That is through their work to try to get those individuals released through other means.
So we are not negotiating, we are not paying ransom, in fact we want the people responsible apprehended and we want the individuals that have been kidnapped returned safe.
REP. McCOLLUM: Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, sir.