Excerpts from briefing by Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics And Law Enforcement Affairs Randy Beers And ONDCP Deputy Director Robert Brown, March 1, 2001

Excerpts from briefing by Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics And Law Enforcement Affairs Randy Beers And ONDCP Deputy Director Robert Brown, March 1, 2001
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman

ON-THE-RECORD BRIEFING ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AFFAIRS RANDY BEERS AND ONDCP DEPUTY DIRECTOR ROBERT BROWN ON THE 2000 NARCOTICS CERTIFICATION DETERMINATIONS

March 1, 2001
Washington, D.C.

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You see the production areas highlighted there for Colombia, and there too we think that there has been some, given a whole series of problems that I'm sure most of you are familiar with, you see nonetheless, I think, some very successful programs focused on dealing with this exploding coca cultivation in the south of Colombia. The figures that are just now out, that perhaps you're aware of but I'll restate here, with regard to calendar 2000 coca cultivation details in Colombia which cite an overall 11 percent expansion in the last calendar year. That compares with a general average of about 20 percent in the preceding four years, so a continued increase and a continued consolidation in southern Colombia but, relatively speaking, a lower level increase of what we had seen in the past.

Going back to the budget issue, if I might just a moment, I gave you a perspective of the federal drug control spending, one category to the other. Let me also say that the details of the United States fiscal '02 drug control budget are not going to be known until early April, April the 3rd, I believe, but I would give you just a general framework to consider that budget from in the drug and crime area. The total budget, having seen the first draft there, the 18-whatever, 18.3, if it is, total, the total budget for '02 will be about $19 billion. That will include some specific plus-ups across the demand area of prevention and treatment, and will specifically include over $500 million for the Colombia and Andean area.

I would want to go a bit beyond just the Andean framework. The graphic that I've offered you here -- and by the way, following that is a pie chart that basically provides the specific components of our Colombia initiative in support of the Colombian Government's Plan Colombia -- just to give you the numbers, the gross numbers, that make up the $1.3 million supplemental from last year.

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Q: Mr. Beers, two questions. The first one is what would you say about the fact that the demilitarized zone in Colombia was the zone in Colombia which showed the highest rate increase in coca production? And what should the government do about it? Should they go ahead and eradicate there? What should they do?

And the second one is, in the overview of the report, when you describe the relationship between narco-traffickers and guerillas, you describe that relationship as a narco alliance -- I mean, a narco-political alliance that threatens to destabilize Colombia. Can you clarify what you mean with "narco-political alliance"? I mean, are you giving a political status to guerillas in Colombia?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY BEERS: On the first question, the increase that you have cited in the despeje is what our estimate suggests. It went from 6,000 hectares at the end of '99 to 7,900 hectares at the end of the past year. That is about a 33 percent increase. That is three times the rate of increase in the country at large. 7,900 hectares is not a large amount in the overall tabulation for Colombia, and as we have said, as the Government of Colombia has said, our initial effort will be focused on the Putumayo-Caqueta area principally.

When there is a decision to go into the despeje, this is a Colombian Government decision. We are prepared to work with them in that regard. And eventually, if we are to deal with drug trafficking in Colombia, the Colombian Government will need to deal with the drug cultivation that is going on there.

But as we have said for some time now, we are focused on getting the most efficient effort that we can produce in Colombia in the shortest possible time, and that is why we are focusing on Putumayo and Caqueta today.

Bob, do you want to add anything?

DEPUTY DIRECTOR BROWN: I would just put a number to what you have already said. I hope these figures are generally right. That total at the end of last year of coca cultivation in the demilitarized -- in the despeje -- is about 6 percent of the national -- as of the close of last year -- of the national cultivation amount. So to put into a general perspective of how much that amounts to, and that would drive our support programs to the Government of Colombia in terms of eradication right where they are in southern Putumayo.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY BEERS: We are not opposed to elimination of drug cultivation in the despeje. Don't mistake these remarks for that. With respect to the narco-political alliance, we are simply saying that the symbiotic relationship that is developed between the insurgents and paramilitaries on the one hand, the illegal forces within Colombia, and the drug traffickers, the illegal criminal organizations within Colombia, is such that you have in effect a political alliance, political in the sense that they, for their own internal political purposes, have chosen to ally with one another in order to pursue their own goals, which obviously commonly include drug trafficking.

Q: Will this Administration have any new ideas regarding what has been called "the balloon effect," which is when neighboring -- one country's neighbor has a decrease, or has a successful eradication, while other countries bordering it will have an increase? It seems that that is what has happened as we watch a decrease in production get (inaudible) in Peru and Bolivia, with an increase in Colombia.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY BEERS: This Administration will announce its specific numbers for State Department budget, along with the same time frame that Bob Brown indicated at the beginning of April, and at that point in time we will be able to talk specifics.

But as I have said, and as Bob has said, what we are talking now about is a significant budget request for an Andean regional program, which will cover not just Colombia, but Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Venezuela and Panama, as a geographic area. And it will be balanced so that Colombia does not have the 85 percent funding that it did in the Plan Colombia Supplemental. It will be closer to a 50/50 ratio between Colombia and the other states in the region, and it will be more heavily devoted to economic programs like alternative development, and that too will approach closer to a 50/50 relationship overall.

But I don't have any of the specific numbers to give to you at this time. We are still working on the details of that budget and how to present it to the Congress, and of course to you all.

As of March 3, 2001, this document was also available online at http://usinfo.state.gov/admin/011/lef504.htm