from Eric Olson, Winifred Tate, and Laurie Freeman, Washington Office on Latin America, Sep 11, 1998

Urgent action alert to oppose increasing militarization of the drug war

Call your representatives and senators before September 16.

In the House, the bill has the solid support of the Republican leadership. The sponsors are so confident, they have decided to bring the bill to the floor under "suspension of the rules." This is a technical procedure whereby "non-controversial" proposals can be brought to a vote in an expedited fashion. In this case, the bill was just introduced in July and all the relevant committees have waived jurisdiction. None of the usual hearings will be held to study the proposal. In exchange, the bill must pass the full House with a super-majority, or two-thirds in favor. No amendments are allowed and debate is limited to one hour. With the President facing serious political problems and the mid-term elections just weeks away, the Republican majority is betting that no one will want to oppose a "get tough on drugs" bill.

The sponsors' confidence may offer us our only hope. To defeat the McCollum bill, we must muster 145 votes instead of the usual 217.

If you and your organization are concerned about the impact of U.S. military aid on human rights in Colombia, Peru, and Mexico, NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT. The bill will be brought to the floor on Wednesday, September 16. It is crucial that you call or write your Representatives immediately and urge them to vote against the McCollum Drug Act.

When talking to your Representatives, you can use the following arguments:

• By offering this bill under suspension, the sponsors intend to rush it through Congress without sufficient debate. This should be a time to debate and re-evaluate current U.S. antinarcotics policy. Instead, the sponsors plan to authorize a lot of money on a policy that has had absolutely no success.

• By offering military equipment and training to Latin American police and militaries with questionable human rights records, the bill undermines fundamental U.S. foreign policy goals of supporting democracy and human rights. Such a policy can also embroil the United States in brutal counterinsurgency wars. The equipment and training received by anti-drug forces can be easily used for counterinsurgency purposes. In the case of Colombia, for example, many Members of Congress reduce guerrillas and drug traffickers into one enemy, the "narcoguerrilla," thereby erasing the line between counternarcotics and counterinsurgency -- but in doing so they ignore the army's and right-wing paramilitaries' ties to the drug trade. In Mexico, the same units receiving U.S. counternarcotics training are operating in Chiapas, Guerrero, and Oaxaca.

• By training Latin American militaries in anti-drug police work, the United States is encouraging them to perform domestic law enforcement duties prohibited of the U.S. military. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, "there is little proof that the involvement of [Mexican] soldiers in police work has helped stem the flow of drugs. But there is growing evidence that this controversial program has led to serious human rights abuses."

• The bill pours billions of dollars into counternarcotics programs that have produced only failure. Rep. McCollum claims that if you "prevent drugs from entering the country, ?you drive up the price of drugs. Drive up the price of drugs and you save lives." But increasing prices has actually attracted new producers and distributors to the market, eventually driving prices back down again. The U.S. government has already spent more than $25 billion on interdiction programs and efforts to disrupt drug production in "source countries," but prices for a pure gram of both heroin and cocaine (as measured in 1994 dollars) have declined markedly in the last 15 years.

• For Latin America overall, U.S. government funding for antidrug efforts has increased more than 150 percent over the last ten years; yet by the U.S. State Department's own estimates, coca cultivation is 11.7 percent higher and opium production has doubled over that time period.

• U.S. antidrug efforts have failed most spectacularly in Colombia, the largest recipient of U.S. counter-drug assistance (a total of nearly one billion dollars to date). Yet over the last decade, total drug production in Colombia has risen an estimated 260 percent. Coca production in Colombia has more than tripled, making Colombia the world's leading coca producer. Only four years ago, no heroin was produced in Colombia; it now ranks third in the world in poppy cultivation and fourth in heroin production.

If you have any questions about either the Western Hemisphere Drug Elimination Act or the impact of counternarcotics policy on human rights in Latin America, please feel free to contact Eric Olson, Winifred Tate, or Laurie Freeman at WOLA, (202) 797-2171. We greatly appreciate any effort you undertake to oppose this legislation.

The bill also includes funds for "alternative development" projects which we might support under other circumstances, but not as part of a massive military build-up.

Excerpts from the Western Hemisphere Drug Elimination Act of 1998

• $72 million to fund the purchase of 6 UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters for the Colombian National Police (CNP).
• $70 million to fund conversion kits for 50 UH-1H helicopters (at $1.4 million per kit) for conversion into Superhueys.
• $6 million for minigun systems for CNP aircraft through fiscal year 2001.
• $2 million for the purchase of CNP DC-3 transport aircraft.
• $18 million to sustain support of CNP helicopters and fixed wing fleet for eradication purposes through fiscal year 2001.
• $6 million to fund 5 riverine operations maintenance platforms for the Colombian Army through fiscal year 2001.

• $18 million to purchase 6 Bell 212 (high altitude capable helicopters) under Mexican Attorney General to be specifically dedicated for Mexico's opium eradication program in Guerrero, Jalisco and Sinaloa through fiscal year 2001.

• $3 million to fund air operations support for Bolivian Red Devils through fiscal year 2001.
• $3 million to fund riverine operations support for Bolivian Blue Devils through fiscal year 2001.

• $1.5 million to support multinational riverine and small boat maintenance training program for Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, and Colombia in Iquitos, Peru.
• $5 million to establish a third site at Puerto Maldonado to support counternarcotics airbridge and riverine missions through fiscal year 2001.

• $3 million to support funding for joint National Guard (GN)/ Technical Police (PTJ) Counterdrug Intelligence Center through fiscal year 2001.

• $300 million to establish an airbase to support U.S. counternarcotics organizations in the southern Caribbean, northern South America, and the eastern Pacific.