Statement by Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Georgia), July 26, 2001

Statement by Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Georgia), July 26, 2001
The head of the United Nations Drug Control Program for Colombia and Ecuador, Klaus Nyholm, joined the growing controversy over aerial fumigation yesterday, when he told Colombian press that aerial fumigation "is neither fair nor effective." It should not be used against small farmers, he asserted, who have no alternatives but to plant coca and poppy to survive.

Conservative Party Senator, Juan Manuel Ospina, plans to introduce legislation sharply scaling back forced aerial fumigation, requiring more emphasis on aid to help farmers switch to legal crops, and decriminalizing small drug plots. He said fumigation "has been absolutely ineffective in reducing or eliminating the areas under cultivation," In an urgent letter sent today to Members of Congress, he wrote that "the fumigations are an attack on the civilian population, especially indigenous, Afro-Colombian and humble peasant communities,"

According to the State Department's International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, the US funded the fumigation of 500,000 acres of coca in the Andes between 1985 and 1997. However, between 1993 and 1997, coca leaf cultivation in the region has more than doubled.

The former Drug Czar, General Barry McCaffrey, and the State Department point to manual eradication in Bolivia and Peru as one of our nation's biggest victories in the drug war. Manual eradication is more effective because it involves a voluntary conversion to legal crops and prevents coca farmers from continuing cultivation elsewhere.

In May 2001, six governors from southern Colombia, the region where most of Colombia's coca is grown, presented a comprehensive strategy for coca elimination. The plan opposes fumigation as destructive and unnecessary. The governors ask that communities have the chance to manually eradicate their crops, and called for sufficient alternative development funding. Numerous mayors from the area support the governors in their call to change the policy.

Fumigation is accelerating the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest by pushing coca production further into the jungle. Furthermore, there are many reports of illnesses associated with fumigation, including the deaths of several young children. Glysophate, the chemical used in fumigation, has led to the devastation of cattle, fish farms and subsistence crops that farmers depend on to feed their families, similar to the affects of Agent Orange in Vietnam. Meanwhile, alternative development has not had a chance to reach the people. The result is increased displacement of peasants, who have little choice but to join the ranks of the armed actors in Colombia.

Fumigation is a proven failure, and our own State Department and former Drug Czar hold up manual eradication as our biggest victory in the war on drugs. I'm confused, why does this legislation seek to throw good money after bad? If we pursue this strategy, not only are we not learning from our mistakes, but we're expanding on them. I urge my Colleagues to support proven and effective drug control policy, and vote to end this misguided strategy that punishes the poorest of the poor and does nothing to reduce the flow of drugs coming into our nation.