Excerpts from press conference by Barry McCaffrey, director, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, January 4, 2001

Excerpts from press conference by Barry McCaffrey, director, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, January 4, 2001

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary

January 4, 2001

PRESS BRIEFING BY DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY GENERAL BARRY MCCAFFREY; DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY, DR. DONALD VEREEN; AND CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE OFFICE OF DRUG CONTROL POLICY JANET CRIST

The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

11:15 A.M. EST

...

Q: General, when it comes to Colombia, President Pastrana has mentioned the fact that he might stop the peace talks with the FARC forces. In addition to that, the United States has supported several billion dollars to Colombia. What would be your assessment of the situation in Colombia today and advice for the new administration?

GENERAL MCCAFFREY: Well, you know, Colombia has been a huge focus on the part of a lot of us -- and I say a lot of us meaning in Congress -- Speaker Denny Hastert, Senator Joe Biden and others; in the interagency group [with] Under Secretary Tom Pickering, NSC Advisor Sandy Berger -- a lot of us were involved in trying to pull together long-term support for the Andean Ridge. We did get a $1.3-billion, two-year [aid] package through Congress, and when President Clinton flew into Cartagena to meet with President Pastrana and release that, we had a sizeable bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation along with us.

We wanted to underscore [that] we got the point, these are 40 million people, three hours' flight from Miami, who have huge importance, politically, culturally, economically, to the United States. And we intend to stand with them.

But we think that Colombian program is well-founded. It's a Colombian strategy of $7.5-billion, three-year total dimensions. It's going to have an enormous amount of support out of their own internal resources, some $4 billion. It involves huge resources out of the international financial institutions and growing support, we hope, out of Europe, Japan and others who need to understand that they are also at risk from both heroin and cocaine produced in the Andean Ridge.

We think President Pastrana, though, has got a huge challenge. The level of violence is almost unimaginable to the American population -- 26,000 or more heavily armed FARC, ELN and AUC narcoterrorists, and they've been devastating in their impact on Colombian democratic institutions.

But we're going to stand behind the Colombian leadership and hope to build a regional consensus that Colombia must not be isolated. This problem affects all of us.

Q: Have you any evidence of FARC traffic in drugs?

GENERAL MCCAFFREY: Let me, if I can, get this gentleman. Yes, please?

Q: A follow-up on Colombia. What is the future of the drug strategy on Colombia, with the FARC and -- to the United States, as you report today?

GENERAL MCCAFFREY: Well, I think the question is essentially what's the future in terms of FARC/ELN/AUC action. They are fighting over 520 metric tons of cocaine and eight metric tons of heroin. And to their viewpoint, that's worth fighting over. Maybe it's a half billion dollars in cash. It means when you see on TV FARC battalions, they're wearing shiny new uniforms. They've got helicopters, aircraft, money to corrupt politicians, the media, the armed forces, the police. These are dangerous people.

And you know, 200 metric tons of cocaine went to Europe last year, primarily through Spain and the Netherlands. So now you've got a situation in Europe where they're paying double per kilogram of cocaine what's being spent in the United States. This is a global problem we're trying to deal with. And I think without question, it's incumbent upon all of us in the Americas, under the OAS auspices, to stand with the Colombians.

I'm very upbeat, though. These are serious people. Minister Ramirez, General Tapias, President Pastrana, they will focus on the problem.

...

Q: You mentioned a number of figures concerning the amounts of money going into that. But do you have at this point any indication that there has been a success, either in terms of territory that has been demilitarized or the amount of drugs that have been stopped?

GENERAL MCCAFFREY: Well, there's always been sort of a notion you can't do anything about drug production, it's hopeless, why don't we just give up and legalize it, when, in fact, there's an enormously successful experience in Pakistan, dramatically reducing heroin production; in Thailand, now less than 1 percent of the region's total; huge successes in Peru; down by some 60-odd percent in Bolivia.

The Colombians were very successful in operating against drug production in Guaviare Province. Now they're going to have to go down in the "empty zone," Caqueta and Putumayo Provinces, and eliminate this giant amount of coca that's growing down there. They've moved significant security forces in; they put human rights monitors in there -- agents of the Fiscalia that the rule of law is re-established in the south. There's a very serious alternative economic program going now under the auspices of an agency called PLANTE in Colombia.

So it seems to us that they've put together a decent concept; they're determined to protect their own future. And gosh knows, all of us in the region better pray for their success.

As of January 9, 2001, this document was also available online at http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/ar/colombia/czar4.htm