U.S. Officials Blast Colombia Drug Policy : Narcotics: Justice Department lashes out at Bogota’s lenient handling of traffickers. At risk is law enforcement cooperation.

The Clinton Administration’s aggravation over the Colombian government’s handling of drug prosecutions erupted into public view Wednesday as U.S. officials sharply criticized the Latin American nation’s top prosecutor in congressional testimony.

Jo Ann Harris, head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, charged that Gustavo de Greiff, Colombian prosecutor general, has adopted “outrageous positions” on legalizing drug trafficking and drug use; these positions threaten to undermine U.S. law enforcement cooperation with Colombia.

In testimony reflecting the anger that has been expressed privately by some officials, Harris told a Senate subcommittee that De Greiff also has negotiated lenient plea bargains for major cocaine traffickers and has allowed them to avoid forfeiting drug profits, even in cases where U.S. authorities have helped provide evidence of guilt.

De Greiff, in turn, has charged that international drug-control efforts have failed because countries like the United States have been unable to curtail the demand for cocaine, Harris said.

She said De Greiff is “not accountable” to Colombian President Cesar Gaviria Trujillo, who often disagrees with him, because the prosecutor general is part of the independent judicial branch.

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on terrorism, narcotics and international operations, agreed with Harris, saying he was “deeply disturbed” by De Greiff’s statements and actions. Kerry said lenient plea-agreements negotiated with leaders of the notorious Cali drug cartel “threaten fundamental U.S. interests and in the long run would threaten Colombia’s security as well. We must not offer drug kingpins safe harbor anywhere.”

A Justice Department official said Harris decided to go public with criticism expressed in private diplomatic communications because “we were getting no results.” The future course of U.S.-Colombian cooperation in drug cases is uncertain, he said, adding that “we’re down to a trickle now on sharing evidence.”

“We are committed to supporting Colombia in its struggle to bring the drug kingpins to justice,” Harris said in concluding remarks. “But we must question Dr. De Greiff’s resolve and his intention to use U.S.-provided evidence aggressively to prosecute these major traffickers who have caused unthinkable and irreparable harm to the citizens of the United States and Colombia.”

CIA Director R. James Woolsey and other witnesses underscored the importance of a strong anti-narcotics effort by Colombia and other Western Hemisphere countries. “Latin American narcotics traffickers, particularly the Cali drug groups, control the hugely profitable worldwide cocaine trade and are the sole suppliers of cocaine to the U.S. market,” Woolsey said.

Describing the political corruption that drug profits often lead to, Woolsey testified that “drug kingpins in South America have gone beyond local corruption to influence not only a broad array of government officials but elections and decision-making at the national level.”

He said lawyers working for Cali cartel leaders “helped to shape last year’s legislative reform of the legal system--a reform whose very provisions the kingpins now are using in an attempt to gain easy plea-bargaining agreements.”