>Sender: >To: >X-Original-Message-ID: <0b8201bf3250$b31df280$9acf69cf@pacbell.net> >From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: An excellent article. >Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 21:41:17 -0800 >X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > > >From: Peter Webster[SMTP:vignes@monaco.mc] >Sent: Thursday, November 18, 1999 7:31 PM >To: drugnews@psychedelic-library.org >Subject: [] LeMonde: US Calls For Cooperation In Drugs War > >Le Monde / US calls for cooperation in drugs war / Patrice de Beer in >Washington >Newshawk: Peter Webster >Pubdate: Novv 18, 1999 >Source: The Guardian Weekly (London) >Page: 30 >Contact: weekly@guardian.co.uk >Copyright: Guardian Publications 1999 >Author: Patrice de Beer in Washington > > >Washington ready for fresh start as it admits 'no one has the unique >solution' > >US calls for cooperation in drugs war > > >The Organisation of American States (OAS), which met in Washington on >November 4 and 5, tried to give the impression that the fight against drugs >has got off to a fresh start - at a time when the worsening situation in >Colombia gives little cause for optimism. >The man behind this meeting of officials combating drug traffickers was >President Clinton's "drugs tsar", General Barry McCaffrey. A week earlier >he had been spreading the good American word during a tour of Europe. Now >he wanted to show the new face of the United States. >The US has long been accused of wanting to call the tune on anything that >is going on in its "backyard", and of imposing its own solutions and >decisions. Washington's attitude has caused resentment in countries south >of the Rio Grande. On this occasion the 34 nations present (all of the >Americas and the Caribbean, except for Cuba) adopted a new slogan in favour >of multilateralism and cooperation. >McCaffrey said that the era of mutual recrimination was over, and they >would now all have to pull together. The countries that produced drugs or >through which drugs were smuggled had previously claimed that trafficking >would not exist if there were no users. The Americans, in turn, had accused >their neighbours of flooding the US market by producing ever larger >quantities of cocaine. >Washington now admits that such distinctions no longer mean much, since >most Latin American nations are producers, countries of transit and >consumers. >McCaffrey also admitted that the US was a big producer of drugs such as >metamphetamines, ecstasy and cannabis, and that the traditional policy of >out-and-out repression had its limitations. His deputy, Pancho Kinney, >added: "We can no longer afford to be condescending. No one has the unique >solution." >The first step taken by the OAS, through the Inter-American Drug Abuse >Control Commission, has been to implement a process known as the >"multilateral evaluation mechanism" at every level - production, >consumption and repressive or preventive anti-drugs methods. The first >results of the initiative will be made public at the next OAS summit in >Canada in 2001, when each country, including the US, will be judged by the >others. >According to Canada's deputy state prosecutor, Jean Fournier, who was >behind the evaluation initiative, there was no getting away from the fact >that repression did not work, and that drug trafficking was too big a >problem to be left to police. >The Brazilian drugs tsar, Walter Maierovitch, said that Brazil had become a >country of transit, and that drug use had increased. "Drugs capitalists" >were threatening the foundation of the state. "It's no longer a question of >policing, but of preserving democracy," he added. The cartels had >increasing links with terrorist movements, and took advantage of Brazil's >enormous territory to dispatch their merchandise to Europe via the Iberian >peninsula, and through ports in Yugoslavia and Romania. >Mexico's state prosecutor, Jorge Madrago, was also a worried man. His >country was blighted by the repercussions of drug trafficking: smugglers >were paid in kind, and as a result turned into dealers. But he was >delighted that Mexico's "very difficult relationship" with the US had been >clarified, and that the producing and consuming countries had at last >decided to seek an overall solution in accordance with "the principle of >co-responsibility". >The fact remains that Washington still practises a degree of unilateralism, >and takes it upon itself to "certify" its partners if they conduct >themselves properly, and to impose sanctions on them if they do not. >McCaffrey was, however, able to point to some successes. He quoted the >cases of Peru and Bolivia, where production had plummeted by 50% since >1995. The Bolivian vice-president, Jorge Quiroga, said the area planted >with coca in the Chapare valley, for example, had decreased from 48,600 >hectares to 24,800. >Bolivia said that it had achieved these results without outside help and >without infringing human rights. But it wanted Washington to double its aid >of $50m a year so that an alternative form of development could be >encouraged, and the problem eradicated once and for all. >That stance is not to everyone's liking. The US Congress has not shown much >interest in a new approach, which would reduce the role of security forces >and allow other countries a bigger say. And alternative groups challenge >the very notion of the fight against drugs. >Several important figures, including former presidents such as Violeta >Chamorro of Nicaragua, Oscar Arias of Costa Rica and Belisario Betancur of >Colombia, as well as the Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, denounced >the ineffectiveness of a war whose cost has risen 17-fold in 20 years. >Some of the results have been disappointing. In 1998 Colombia doubled its >coca production despite being the third-largest beneficiary of US aid. The >quantities of drugs seized by the authorities are only a drop in the ocean. >Profits from drug trafficking in the US are put at $57bn a year. >Critics say the problem is not a lack of money, firepower or prisons - they >believe in a new approach based on prevention and treatment, which costs >less and is more effective. >The fact remains that US policy is still torn between two views: the >ultra-conservatism of Congress and Clinton's cautiousness on the one hand; >and, on the other, awareness that the old methods are no longer really >effective. November 7-8 > > >================================================================ > >This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to > the mailing list . >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: