Press availability by Assistant Secretary of State Rand Beers, Bogota, August 31, 2001

Press availability by Assistant Secretary of State Rand Beers, Bogota, August 31, 2001
Press Availability
Rand Beers
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State
for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement

Bogota, Colombia August 31, 2001

Q: Karl Penhaul, Boston Globe: How would you explain to the U.S. taxpayer that the more America spends on the drug war, the more drugs are produced? Have you got any estimate of how much drug production may have increased had the U.S. not spent anything on the drug war?

Rand Beers: No, I can't give you a precise figure of how much the drug production might have increased without America's effort, but I would say that it is certainly our expectation that the amount of increase would have been greater had the effort not been made, that the Colombian and Peruvian and Bolivian cultivation centers are providing cocaine for the global market and they have certainly been pursuing an aggressive effort to market their drugs, to increase the number of people who use them, and I have no doubt that -- without our effort -- that increase would have been even higher. I just can't tell you how much.

Q: Antonio Jose Caballero, Caracol Radio: Fabio Ochoa's extradition is ongoing news in Colombia. What does that mean to you? What do think of the concerns that have been expressed by Colombia's neighbors like Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Panama, and Venezuela on the spillover effects of Plan Colombia, particularly in Ecuador and Peru?

Rand Beers: With respect to the situation about Mr. Ochoa and his pending extradition, I think the people of the United States -- certainly the government of the United States -- as well as Colombia, believe that bringing individuals to justice who have been involved in these kinds of gross narco-trafficking violations is absolutely essential to making clear to the world that the rule of law pertains to this, and that no one is above the law, no matter how much money they make. I think we all welcome this possibility.

With respect to the concerns that have been expressed by some of the countries that border on Colombia about the possibility that success in Colombia may lead to the possibility of drug cultivation occurring in those neighboring countries, we all recognize it. I have spoken to the leadership of all of these countries. We all realize that it is all of our responsibility to deal with the drug problem in this hemisphere and on a global basis. As Mr. Grossman said, it is an issue of shared responsibility and there is no disagreement. But I certainly understand, as much as you, that any country doesn't necessarily want a drug trade to spring up in that country and take hold. So, I think what we need to do, and the reason -- the very specific reason -- for the Andean Regional Initiative proposal of the Bush Administration, is to help countries in the region with resources in order to ensure, before it happens, that they are fortified in their ability to prevent the springing up of the drug trade in adjacent countries. And that's what we are about and that's what we are asking our Congress to support in the United States.

Q: Steve Salisbury, Washington Times: A couple of questions here, first of all, during operation "gato negro," which you are well aware of, seized documents and testimonies were linking the FARC guerillas to direct involvement in narco-trafficking. Later, I talked to people connected with the FARC and they thought ... they were worried about the possibility of FARC leaders appearing on an extradition list, to the United States. Do you know if any FARC leaders are wanted for extradition now, under sealed or unsealed indictment?

The other question ... I was wondering, the government has a program to try to give substitute crops and it has been having some success in localized areas, but some of the coca farmers I talked to mention that, well, we'll take the gringos' money and we'll try to do what they say, but we are going to have our coca crop anyway because it pays more. How do you attack both of those problems, Secretary Beers?

Rand Beers: With respect to the issue of whether or not there are FARC leaders or individuals who are under investigation or under indictment -- sealed or otherwise -- in the United States, I am not in a position to comment on that. You'll have to talk to the Department of Justice on that matter. That is an issue for the criminal process and I am not in a position to speak to that.

With respect to the issue of coca farmers who may be interested in taking part in alternative development but continuing to grow coca crops, I can only speak from historical experience and give you a sense of what makes the most sense. This phenomenon that you are referring to is not new. It occurred earlier in other countries. The case that I am most aware of is in Bolivia, where in the early days of the alternative development program there, the government provided alternative development to farmers, they took it, they eradicated the coca bushes that they had agreed to eradicate, and then simply moved their coca field -- if you will -- to another area. And there was basically no net decrease in the overall coca crop. When the government of Bolivia combined enforcement activity with alternative development, there suddenly came to be a very dramatic reduction in the amount of coca cultivated in Bolivia -- and we are now in the situation in which there is essentially no coca left in the Chapare growing region in Bolivia. We therefore believe and we have worked with the government of colombia -- and are in full agreement -- that it is absolutely essential for a counter-narcotics policy to have both alternative development and enforcement components. And when farmers choose to participate in the alternative development program, we applaud that. And when there is continued coca cultivation outside of the boundaries of the alternative development program, then those crops are illegal and should be treated as such and enforcement activity of whatever sort is appropiate against them.

Q: -- Guillermo Gonzalez, Univision: U.S. policy on fighting coca production, particularly in Colombia, is clear. But what is U.S. policy in the Bush Administration on demand reduction?

Rand Beers: The president of the United States personally has said it is the responsibility of the United States to deal with consumption within the United States as a major part of his contribution to dealing with the global drug problem. And that is one of the major elements of United States policy and United States counternarcotics policy. What that means, in effect, is taking our efforts and increasing and improving them. We are at the very beginning stage of this administration. We have not yet confirmed the head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. I understand that he will have hearings next week -- not next week -- the week after that. That is an absolutely essential element in terms of the formulation of the policy to get the people in place to study the problem and to provide the president with the exact details that will be involved in that. You can probably expect that process to complete itself in the February time frame of next year -- although there may well be announcements before that. But I think we are still in the process of getting organized as to exactly what the programs and the budget that would support the president's policy would actually look like.

Q: -- Carlos Ibarra, RCN Radio: Today's Argentine daily "Clarin" published information quoting Diputado Ramon Torres Molina in the sense that the U.S. soldiers and troops from other Latin American countries are receiving training in Salta province for an eventual U.S. intervention in Colombia should the peace process fail. Is the United States carrying out these kinds of activities in Argentina? What do you have to say about this?

Rand Beers: Total hogwash.

As of September 4, 2001, this document was also available online at http://usinfo.state.gov/admin/011/lef504.htm