Statement of explanation for Colombian drug certification, March 1, 2001

Statement of explanation for Colombian drug certification, March 1, 2001
COLOMBIA

Colombia remains the world's largest cocaine source, with 80 percent of the world's cocaine hydrochloride produced, processed or transported through Colombia. Still, Colombia met the certification criteria in 2000 due to significant gains it made in combatting illicit drugs and its full cooperation with U.S. counterdrug efforts throughout the year. The government of Colombia continues to demonstrate its resolve in combatting the illegal drug industry and had a number of concrete achievements in 2000.

In December, the government of Colombia initiated the counterdrug component of "Plan Colombia," the comprehensive strategy to address the many interrelated challenges facing the country. The United States government supports this multi-year Colombian initiative and provided partial funding for it through a supplemental appropriation in 2000. Importantly, both "Plan Colombia" and the Pastrana Administration's National Drug Control Strategy couple alternative development with aerial eradication of illicit crops, recognizing that neither can succeed without the other.

In 2000, major cooperative efforts, such as Operation New Generation, resulted in the arrests of key traffickers. Meanwhile, important judicial cooperation resulted in the extradition of 12 fugitives to the United States, nine of whom are Colombian nationals.

The Colombian National Police (CNP) continued its outstanding counterdrug efforts. The CNP received increased support from the Colombian Armed Services and began joint operations in southern Colombia with the Army's counterdrug battalions.

The government of Colombia once again made significant advances in combatting maritime trafficking, independently and bilaterally. The port security program resulted in the seizure of 29 metric tons of cocaine and demonstrated the potential of cooperation between government and private industry. The Colombian Navy has described a shipboarding agreement (signed in 1997) as one of its most effective counterdrug tools and has credited this agreement with the capture of over 23 tons of cocaine in 2000. The government of Colombia also enacted resolutions meant to disrupt the logistics support to drug traffickers at sea by improving monitoring of ships and boats and increasing the penalties associated with carrying fuel in excess of levels specified in issued permits.

The government of Colombia has improved the Colombian Air Force's (FAC) monitoring and interdiction abilities. In 2000, the FAC effectively prevented illegal aircraft from entering Colombia's north coast. The CNP's civil aviation registration program, begun in 1999, inspected 398 aircraft in 2000, finding 58 violations with 20 testing positive for drug residue.

The aerial eradication program succeeded in treating approximately 47,370 hectares of coca, a slight decrease from last year's level, and roughly 9,000 hectares of opium poppy, the most ever in Colombia. The CNP also had another strong year in the realm of enforcement, with seizures of large amounts of cocaine hydrochloride and base, coca leaf, heroin, morphine and opium.

The government of Colombia also took an important step in combatting financial crime when it joined the governments of Aruba, Panama and Venezuela, as well as the United States, in establishing a multilateral initiative to address the Black Market Peso Exchange (BMPE). The BMPE is a highly organized money-laundering system through which products such as liquor and domestic appliances are purchased abroad with drug-generated dollars, smuggled into Colombia, and then sold on the domestic market, thereby generating pesos which can be introduced into the legitimate economy.

Overall, Colombia continued as a leader in counterdrug efforts in 2000 and demonstrated its staunch commitment to cooperate fully with the United States in combatting this shared problem.

As of March 3, 2001, this document was also available online at http://usinfo.state.gov/admin/011/lef501.htm