U.S. Waives Sanctions Vs. Colombia

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

U.S. Waives Sanctions Vs. Colombia

By GEORGE GEDDA
 .c The Associated Press  

WASHINGTON (AP) - Citing gains in Colombia's war on drugs, Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright said today the administration has decided to waive two-year
old sanctions against that country. 

Albright, making the announcement on behalf of President Clinton, praised the
Colombian police and counter-narcotics forces for an ``effective eradication
and interdiction effort.'' 

She also said the decision will lay the groundwork for future cooperation with
the new leadership that will take over in Colombia following this year's
presidential and legislative elections. 

Waiver of the sanctions means that there will be fewer impediments to U.S.
assistance to Colombia's anti-drug efforts. Colombia also will be spared
economic penalties for the coming year. 

In Colombia, Foreign Minister Maria Emma Mejia called the U.S. decision a
triumph ``for this country, which has suffered greatly, which has lost a lot
of lives (in the war on drugs) and for the president, of course, who has
helped us emerge from this predicament we've had for two years that did not
serve us well.'' 

The Clinton administration maintains that Colombia's president, Ernesto
Samper, has links to drug cartels and has been an impediment in the anti-drug
fight. 

The government officials spoke hours before public release of formal
administration evaluations of the anti-narcotics performances of 30 foreign
countries. 

Most of the 30 were expected to be ``certified'' as fully cooperating with
U.S. anti-narcotics efforts. The officials, asking not to be identified, said
the administration has decided, as expected, to recertify Mexico, ignoring the
objections of many in Congress. 

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers praised the decision to waive sanctions on
Colombia, saying it is in the national interest to work closely with the
country to fight drug trafficking. 

``It is clearly time for the administration to end what some have called a
policy of benign neglect of our friends in the war on drugs in Colombia,''
said Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., chairman of the House International
Relations Committee. '' . . . I welcome the administration's change of heart.
Tardy as it is, better late than never.'' 

The administration is not certifying Colombia as fully cooperating because
officials believe that country's anti-narcotics effort faces serious
shortcomings, the officials said. 

Colombia remains the world's leading producer and distributor of cocaine and a
major supplier of heroin and marijuana. 

The officials said Colombia will remain in the ``decertified'' category. They
added that the decision to waive the sanctions was based partly on the
emergence of the Colombian national police as a highly effective counter-
narcotics force. 

For the past two years, Colombia has been ineligible for all U.S. assistance
except for humanitarian and counter-narcotics aid. The designation also
required the United States to vote against Colombian loan requests in
international lending institutions. 

Colombian Ambassador Juan Carlos Esguerra said in a recent interview that the
designation demonstrated a lack of recognition of Colombia's anti-narcotics
efforts. 

Esguerra, a former defense minister, asserted that no country in history
eradicated more drug-producing crops than Colombia did in 1997. Colombian
figures show about 126,000 acres sprayed, more than 50 tons of cocaine seized
and 392 drug laboratories destroyed. 

Esguerra described how Colombian pilots flying planes on coca eradication
missions often face automatic weapons fire from leftist guerrillas who are
aligned with drug chieftains. 

The ambassador spoke while seated in his office in front of a picture of
Samper. 

Samper is a major reason the Clinton administration has been unable to give
Colombia a clean bill of health. He is seen here as beholden to
narcotraffickers based on a $6 million contribution received during the 1994
presidential campaign. 

The U.S. decision to waive sanctions was made easier by the fact that Samper's
term in office expires in August. Presidential elections are set for May. 

U.S. officials acknowledged that Colombia's eradication campaign has been
impressive, but they say increased plantings by traffickers have more than
compensated for the crops destroyed through spraying. They also describe as a
step forward the reinstatement of an extradition law by the Colombian
legislature in December. 

Mexico has routinely been certified as fully cooperative with the United
States but some in Congress believe the designation is undeserved, citing the
continued high level of cross-border trafficking. In anticipation of the
expected recertification of Mexico, the congressional skeptics were moving to
decertify Mexico through legislation. 

Colombia has been lumped together with Afghanistan, Burma, Nigeria and Iran on
the list of decertified countries ineligible for most U.S. assistance. Two
other countries - Belize and Pakistan - also have been decertified but have
been spared sanctions for national security reasons. 

Other countries subject to the certification process were Aruba, the Bahamas,
Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, China, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala,
Haiti, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Laos, Malaysia, Panama, Paraguay, Peru,
Taiwan, Thailand, Venezuela and Vietnam. 

Syria and Lebanon were decertified last year but are no longer considered drug
problem countries because of successful opium poppy eradication programs. 

The certification process, first required by Congress in 1986, enrages many
countries, where it is seen as counterproductive. These nations say the root
cause of the drug problem is insatiable U.S. demand, not lax enforcement by
source countries. 

But Clinton administration officials say the threat of public humiliation the
certification process entails has energized anti-narcotics activities in a
number of countries. 

They cite recent anti-narcotics legislation passed by Jamaica and Brazil as
examples. 

A Jamaican Embassy official denied there was any linkage between the timing of
the legislation and today announcements on certification.