Colombia Asks U.S. to Help End Arms Shipments to Drug Lords

Alarmed by discoveries of U.S. weapons in the hands of cocaine cartels, the Colombian government has asked the United States for assistance in halting the flow of arms to the violence-ridden nation, Administration officials said Thursday.

The urgent request followed the seizure of “significant numbers” of American-made assault rifles and other weapons during raids on the headquarters of Colombian drug traffickers, the officials said. The request was made by Justice Minister Monica de Greiff during discussions with U.S. officials last week.

While a Treasury Department investigation has yet to determine how the weapons ended up in Colombian hands, the Administration is trying “to shape a strategy for dealing with it,” the officials said.

Senate Committee Hearing

Disclosure of the attempt to stem the arms shipments emerged during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) voiced concern about the “weapons that are being exported and used to gun down members of the judiciary in Colombia and other places.”

Asked what the Administration is doing about the problem, William J. Bennett, director of the White House Office of Drug Control Policy, described the findings as “a matter of concern” and said that Treasury’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is “looking into it.”

De Greiff raised the issue last week during her trip to Washington to request additional U.S. assistance for Colombia’s battles with the cocaine traffickers, who have declared “all-out war” on the government, Bennett said.

Details on the extent to which the traffickers’ arsenals had been found to consist of U.S.-made weapons were unavailable.

But in the Senate hearing, Kennedy reported that “the raids these past few days have shown that half of the guns that are being used locally in Colombia are being manufactured here in the United States.”

And Jim Pasco, a spokesman for the Firearms Bureau, confirmed that “a significant number, a substantial number” of the weapons seized in the recent raids were of U.S. origin.

“As we learn more about the magnitude of the problem, we’re going to try to shape a strategy for dealing with it,” Pasco said.

The latest Firearms Bureau investigation into weapons exports to Colombia accelerates an effort under way since last spring.