> >STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.COM > >http://www.newsday.com/ap/text/topnews/ap373.htm > >"The United States needs an excuse to continue playing >the world's policeman, and now that excuse is >(fighting) drug trafficking." > > > >Colombian Rebels Set for Drug Fight > >by JARED KOTLER >Associated Press Writer > > >PENAS COLORADAS, Colombia (AP) -- Their fuselages >flashing in the sun, two airplanes lazily circled over >fields of coca, ready to dump a load of herbicides >onto the robust, green bushes used to make cocaine. >Rebels waited below. > >Crouching behind fences, tree stumps and the coca >itself, fighters from the Revolutionary Armed Forces >of Colombia, or FARC, opened up on the two Vietnam-era >planes with M-16 and Galil assault rifles, the crackle >of automatic weapons fire splitting the afternoon >silence. > >During the action Friday, witnessed by an Associated >Press team accompanying the rebels through the coca >fields near the southern village of Penas Coloradas, >neither of the U.S.-made OV-10 airplanes was shot >down. But the camouflage-clad leftist guerrillas >considered it a victory: The unprotected aircraft >veered off without releasing their cargo. > >President Clinton's visit to Colombia on Wednesday and >a $1.3 billion U.S. aid package aim to drive the >rebels from the drug fields. Under the plan, 60 U.S. >combat helicopters will escort fumigation planes and >ferry U.S.-trained anti-narcotics troops into >drug-producing plantations that cover vast areas of >southern Colombia. > >FARC rebels, as well as a rival right-wing >paramilitary group, protect the crops of coca and >poppy, from which heroin is made. The rebels have >vowed to fight the anti-drug offensive. > >Critics contend the so-called Push into Southern >Colombia, expected to get into full swing next year, >will derail fledgling peace talks and draw the United >States directly into Colombia's 36-year-old guerrilla >war. > >U.S. officials insist their only interest is in >fighting drugs but express growing concern about the >15,000-strong FARC, which has used proceeds from the >drug trade to better arm itself and to dominate a >large part of the countryside. > >FARC commander Alfonso Cano called the planned >offensive a veiled counterinsurgency plan and a symbol >of President Andres Pastrana's subservience to >Washington. > >''The United States needs an excuse to continue to >play the role of the world's policeman, and now that >excuse is (fighting) drug trafficking,'' said the >bearded rebel leader in an interview in San Vicente >del Caguan, a town a four-hour riverboat ride north of >Penas Coloradas. > >Nationwide, many Colombians support the anti-drug >push. But in Colombia's coca-growing regions, hundreds >of thousands of poor coca farmers, itinerant >harvesters and small-time merchants do not. > >In Penas Coloradas, a grimy settlement on the brown >and windy Caguan River, 280 miles from the capital >Bogota, coca is the economy's driving force and the >FARC the only law and order. The rebels take their cut >of the cocaine production process while serving as a >de facto government. Liquor sales are forbidden >between Monday and Friday. Theft and drunkenness are >punished. Prostitutes at the town's Great Saigon bar >must take AIDS tests. > >Before the fumigation planes made their abortive >spraying attempt, the local rebel commander -- known >as Herley -- said the coming offensive will provide >the FARC with an ample recruiting base among farmhands >who could lose their livelihoods as a result. > >''How many enemies are created when you take away the >food from someone's children'' the rebel, a 22-year >FARC veteran with long, soiled fingernails and a >bloodshot glare, asked as he strode through the coca >fields. > >Later, as the fumigation planes flew overhead, he >rested the barrel of his rifle on a tree stump, aimed >at the aircraft, and carefully squeezed off a few >rounds. > >For the farmers in Penas Coloradas, as in much of the >rest of impoverished, rural Colombia, there are few >viable alternatives to making a living than growing >coca. They are skeptical of government pledges that >the anti-drug offensive will be accompanied by loans >and other assistance to help them grow legal crops. > >''The government doesn't even know we exist,'' fumed >Miguel Hernandez, whose four-acre coca plot was >fumigated two times last week, wilting banana trees >mixed in with the coca. > >Only about a tenth of the U.S. aid plan would provide >funds for alternative development projects. > >While the cocaine trade nets huge profits for those >further up the international drug chain, the >small-time farmers who grow coca near Penas Coloradas >make very little. > >Jose, a farmer who turned to coca four years ago after >working for years as a migrant coffee picker, said he >earns only about $375 a month in profits off his 12� >acres of coca. He didn't give his last name for fear >of having problems with the law. > >Standing in a wooden shack at a bend in the Caguan >River, he intently watched local men commissioned by >drug cartels test the purity of his football-sized bag >of ''coca base'' -- a semi-processed form of cocaine. >One of the men then handed Jose a wad of cash. > >''It's not honorable work,'' Jose said sheepishly. >''But here in Colombia we have to eat however we >can.'' > > > >__________________________________________________ >Do You Yahoo!? >Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! >http://mail.yahoo.com/ > > >______________________________________________________________________ >To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Online training from Headlight.com can improve your team's skills, >and keep your business on the cutting edge! Act today and save $30. >Prices starting at $12 Choose from 1,500 courses ranging from >business to IT. 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