ONDCP Chief Says 2-5 Years Needed to Beat Colombian Drug Problem

McCaffrey warns of effect of Colombian crisis on U.S.

By Eric Green

Washington File Staff Writer



Washington -- It will take 2-5 years of "hard work" for the United
States and the world community to help Colombia overcome its problem
of drug production and trafficking, says Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the
outgoing director of the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy (ONDCP).


At an October 17 news conference where he reviewed his five years of
service as ONDCP director, McCaffrey said Colombia's drug problem
should concern U.S. citizens, since drug traffickers in that Andean
country need to make only a brief flight to transport their cocaine
and other illicit drugs to Miami and other southern points of entry.


McCaffrey, who has announced that he will step down from his position
January 6, said the United States and the world community have put
together the "underpinnings" of a unified aid plan "to stand with 40
million Colombians as they deal with a huge, internal problem" in that
country. A chart released by ONDCP at the news conference said that in
the last five years, U.S. assistance to Colombia has increased by
nearly 3500 percent, from $30 million in fiscal year 1995 to $1070
million in fiscal year 2000.


The 520 metric tons of cocaine and the 8 metric tons of heroin which
were produced in Colombia last year, and the money coming from those
drugs, is having a "corrosive" effect on Colombian society, McCaffrey
said.


"It's unbelievable what those drugs are doing," McCaffrey said. The
country has a million internal refugees and a half million people have
fled the country, he noted.


In formulating the U.S. response to what has been occurring in
Colombia, McCaffrey said the Clinton Administration believes in the
Colombian leadership and its "Plan Colombia" to fight the country's
drug traffickers, restore peace, and protect the nation's fragile
democracy. But he also observed that the United States believes there
has to be a unified hemispheric response to drug trafficking, because
the problem affects all the nations of the region.


"I think the concept ... and the leadership is there" in Colombia,
"but I think we have 2-5 years of hard work" to return the nation to
stability, he said.


He cited Bolivia and Peru as two nations which have gone a long way
toward curbing illicit drug activity.


"I've been working [with] that problem in and out of Latin America for
years," he said. "If you fly over the Chapare [region] in Bolivia
today, the drugs are nearly gone; it's unbelievable. If you fly over
the Huallaga and Apurimac Valleys in Peru, the drugs are nearly gone.
So we have made progress." He reiterated that Colombia is experiencing
"an emergency situation, and we have got to support [the efforts of]
their leadership" to curb the drug trade.


On the domestic policy front, McCaffrey said he hopes his successor as
ONDCP chief continues a "rational science-based drug strategy which we
have been trying to construct since 1996, with a strong central
component of [drug] prevention and education for schoolchildren
between grades six and 12," adding: "This will help shape attitudes
among both young people and their adult mentors that are resistant to
drug abuse. That's really been the central purpose we've tried to
address in the last five years."


As for his own plans once he steps down as drug chief, McCaffrey, 57,
said he intends to teach at a college, and write a book about the
people who have helped shape U.S. drug policy during his tenure in
office. And with a broad grin, he added that he planned to be a
"better grandfather."


(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)