U.S. Says It Won’t Intervene in Colombia Conflict

The United States will not intervene militarily in Colombia’s civil war or push intervention by South American armies, the U.S. drug czar told South American leaders Friday. But he asked them to help prevent the crisis from destabilizing the region.

Wrapping up a trip to Brazil, Bolivia, Peru and Argentina, retired Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said neighboring nations should provide political and law enforcement support to Colombia as it battles rebel forces and drug cartels that often work in tandem.

“There will be no U.S. intervention in Colombia,” McCaffrey said. “There will be a debate in the United States this fall on what to do to help Colombia with resources, alternative crop development, training of police and military and an intelligence partnership.”

McCaffrey’s message was part of a campaign to underscore the hemispheric implications of the crisis in Colombia. Not only has the conflict killed thousands, displaced a million people and sent cocaine production soaring, but its repercussions are also felt across lawless borders.

The threat is greatest in Ecuador and Venezuela, two of the continent’s most fragile democracies, which endure killings, kidnappings and hijackings related to the Colombian combat. The worst-case scenario for U.S. policymakers is a spread of violence and drug corruption in a region made vulnerable by slumping economies, weak justice institutions and political turmoil.

Recent diplomatic focus on Colombia by U.S. officials, coupled with McCaffrey’s call to increase U.S. military and economic aid, has caused some concern. Venezuelan leaders in particular say they fear a U.S.-sponsored armed offensive camouflaged as an anti-drug crackdown.

“I believe forces in the United States back an intervention,” Jose Vicente Rangel, Venezuela’s foreign minister, said in a recent interview. “There are silent, sophisticated methods of intervention. . . . If they want to help in the fight against drugs, that’s fine. But if it’s for the military, that’s dangerous.”

In addition, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has angered Colombian leaders by seeking a meeting on his own with the guerrillas about a proposed peace plan. Critics say Chavez’s unilateral overtures could make him a wild card in a delicate situation.

McCaffrey said Friday that he hopes any attempts by Venezuela, Brazil and other nations to help resolve the conflict will be done in cooperation with Colombian President Andres Pastrana.

Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil have to varying degrees beefed up security forces at their borders with Colombia to contain guerrilla incursions. McCaffrey said the leaders he spoke with this week share his alarm about the guerrillas, who make hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “protection taxes” from drug growing and smuggling operations.

The rebellion in Colombia is “fueled by cocaine and heroin profits,” he said. “It’s having a terrible impact on their neighbors. . . . There is widespread concern.”

In some ways, McCaffrey said, the battle against cocaine has gained some ground. During the past three years, Bolivia has reduced illegal coca crops by more than 36% and Peru by 56%. Both nations have stepped up the role of the military and intelligence services in anti-drug combat, with Peru shooting down 36 suspected drug smuggling planes in recent years.

Those success stories in two of the world’s prime coca-growing nations have been offset, however, by the doubling of coca production in areas of southern Colombia that are largely controlled by guerrilla armies involved in the drug trade.

Traffickers also are carving out new routes through Brazil, Ecuador and Argentina, McCaffrey said.