U.S. Aid Called Unsuitable for Colombia Task

BOGOTA, Colombia —  Key U.S. officials here say that the $65 million in military aid President Bush has allocated to Colombia to fight its drug lords is largely of “moral and symbolic” value and that a shopping list at Radio Shack would have been of more use in defeating the narcotics traffickers.

Speaking carefully to avoid direct criticism of Bush’s policy, the officials said that 95% of the anti-drug effort here is a police responsibility but that most of the aid ordered by the President is “not applicable to the police” and is likely to be siphoned off for other purposes.

This echoed criticism, albeit muted, by Colombian police leaders who question the utility of weapons meant for conventional warfare.

“You can’t chase drug dealers in the mountains with jet fighters,” said one police general who asked not to be named, “and that is what we need--something to catch the narcotics traffickers.”

One American official said the equipment provided by Bush under the $65-million program “is taken out of existing military stockpiles” and represents what was available, not necessarily what was needed.

“All of this stuff came from the stockpile that the military had,” said one U.S. official. “It is hard to take stuff out of that stockpile and make it applicable to the police.”

Referring to the eight A-37 jet trainers and two C-130 cargo planes recently delivered to Colombia, he said that both have value--but not in locating and destroying the cocaine laboratories that are prime targets in the drive to destroy the narcotics trade.

He suggested that the only use for the subsonic jets would be to locate and force down planes transporting drugs in and out of Colombia, a prospect he thinks is of little importance now.

“I hope (the planes) will be used to help the police,” the official said, but “at this point, I really don’t know how they (the military) will be using it.”

“It would have been better to have had a shopping list for Radio Shack,” said the official, referring to the chain of electronics stores that carry a large stock of radios and other communications equipment.

He mentioned radios and surveillance items, particularly products that could be used to keep close track of suspected drug traffickers, such as eavesdropping microphones and transmitters that can be hidden on a person or in clothing.

But the equipment being sent includes what he called “lunch-box radios,” radios too large to be used in close surveillance and monitoring, he said.

Instead of heavy duty military hardware, which they said would probably be diverted to the regular military’s war against Colombia’s leftist guerrillas, the officials said that the aid should have involved items more useful to police.

The Colombian government wants the nation’s military more involved in destroying the cocaine business, one official said when asked about the aid, but “I don’t know if it’s going to work. I would love to see more go to the police.”

He expressed hope that negotiations now under way on how to use an additional $265 million that Bush has pledged for anti-drug campaigns in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru will restore the priority to the police.

The briefing by the officials, which was given on condition that they not be identified by name or position, came as doubts have begun to surface about the progress being made in the current drive on the drug leaders.

Denying any frustration, one official nevertheless acknowledged that there has been a reduction in the once-wide scope of the war, as indicated by a current television campaign that offers a $250,000 reward for information leading to the capture of two narcotics traffickers.

Until the ads began showing up a few days ago, the stress was on the capture of the so-called 12 most-wanted drug lords. That has been narrowed to Pablo Escobar and Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, both chieftains of the notorious Medellin cartel.

One official denied that reducing the list meant that the government is following a divide-and-conquer strategy or that it was a signal to other bosses, particularly leaders of the so-called Cali cartel, that if they lie low they won’t be bothered.

“Initially, there were a lot more names involved,” the official said, “but the two were singled out because, according to intelligence, they are responsible for the great majority of the violence, not just currently but in the last year and a half.”

The government is “not pulling punches” on the other traffickers, the official declared. “It goes back to who is responsible for the violence. . . . It makes sense (to stress) the two individuals at the top of the list.”

The officials also acknowledged that while the priority is still on destroying the labs that produce cocaine from raw paste imported from other countries, the immediate stress now is on finding the two bosses.

“We are not actively trying to get information on the labs,” said one official, “although we won’t pass an opportunity to carry out a raid on labs if we get information” on the whereabouts of Gacha and Escobar.

Although they said that more information than ever is being received in the wake of the reward offer and the switch in tactics, the officials indicated that authorities are really no closer to catching the two kingpins than when the current offensive began three weeks ago.

“I believe they are spread out,” said one U.S. official of the drug lords, in remote and difficult areas where the police have trouble penetrating. At the same time, this protective isolation is preventing the traffickers from carrying out all of their threats of death and terror.

The drug bosses have been badly hurt by the counter-drug campaign, he said, adding that they are disorganized and that having to hide out has damaged their ability to coordinate their activities. Although there has been a series of bombings and other violent acts, the drug terrorism has not reached the levels originally feared.

But when asked if cartel leaders might be backing off until pressure eases, the official said: “I don’t think so. . . . Their terrorist campaigns have been successful in the past. . . . It gave them a lot of credibility.”

In addition, the drug lords “think their terrorist acts will win the war for them,” the official said, so “it make take them a little bit of time to regroup. . . . But the danger of that (terrorism) is real.”

The drug barons’ violent response continued Saturday in the commercial-industrial center of Itaqui, south of Medellin, where a bomb blast injured three people and caused $50,000 in damage. It was the third bombing in as many days in the town of 150,000, home to large properties owned by members of the drug cartels.

Police in Medellin said Saturday that 16 government vehicles had been gutted by firebombs over the past 48 hours. Telephone service was disrupted Saturday as workers repaired damage from a small truck bomb that was detonated Friday night outside a government-owned telephone office in Medellin.