Drug Crop Eradication And Alternative Development In The Andes

The United States has supported drug crop eradication and alternative development programs in the Andes for decades. Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru collectively produce nearly the entire global supply of cocaine. In addition, Colombia has become a producer of high quality heroin, most of it destined for the United States and Europe. The United States provides counternarcotics assistance through the Andean Counterdrug Initiative (ACI). The program supports a number of missions, including interdiction of drug trafficking, illicit crop eradication, alternative development, and rule of law and democracy promotion. From FY2000 through FY2005, the United States has provided a total of about $4.3 billion in ACI funds.

The United States has supported drug crop eradication and alternative development programs in the Andes for decades. Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru collectively produce nearly the entire global supply of cocaine. In addition, Colombia has become a producer of high quality heroin, most of it destined for the United States and Europe. The United States provides counternarcotics assistance through the Andean Counterdrug Initiative (ACI). The program supports a number of missions, including interdiction of drug trafficking, illicit crop eradication, alternative development, and rule of law and democracy promotion. From FY2000 through FY2005, the United States has provided a total of about $4.3 billion in ACI funds. Since 2001, coca cultivation in the Andes has been reduced by 22%, with the largest decrease occurring in Colombia, according to the State Department. Opium poppy crops, grown mainly in Colombia and from which heroin is made, have been reduced by 67%. However, the region was still capable of producing 640 metric tons of cocaine, and 3.8 metric tons of heroin in 2004, according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Congress has expressed a number of concerns with regard to eradication, especially the health and environmental effects of aerial spraying, its sustainability and social consequences, and the reliability of drug crop estimates. With regard to alternative development, Congress has expressed interest in its effectiveness, its relationship to eradication, and the long-term sustainability of programs once they are started. Drug crops are eradicated either manually or by aerial spraying of a herbicide mixture, the main ingredient being glyphosate, used commercially in the United States under the brand name of Roundup?. Eradication can be conducted with the voluntary agreement of growers, or involuntarily. Peru and Bolivia do not allow aerial eradication, which has proven to be controversial. Critics believe it poses risks to the environment and the health of inhabitants living in sprayed regions. Proponents believe it is the most effective and safe means to defoliate large areas being used for drug crop cultivation, thereby removing a lucrative source of income from the illegally armed Colombian groups. Providing alternatives to drug crops is believed to be crucial to achieve effective eradication. This often includes technical support for farmers, marketing assistance, and strengthening the transportation infrastructure in order to get crops to market. The U.S. approach to alternative development (AD) is to link it to eradication. Growers who agree to eradicate are eligible for assistance. This report will not be updated. For more information on the Andean Counterdrug Initiative, see CRS Report RL32337, Andean Counterdrug Initiative (ACI) and Related Funding Programs: FY2005 Assistance; and CRS Report RL32774, Plan Colombia: A Progress Report, both by Connie Veillette.

Table of contents

This guide is based on the experience gained by the United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) from the Alternative Development (AD) strategy adopted in the Andean area. AD activities are a response by local governments and the international community designed to counteract the international, national and local effects of the rapid expansion of illicit crop production. The guide is based on field studies carried out in Bolivia, Colombia and Peru in 1997. This geographical area is currently the main world centre for the production of raw materials for cocaine, and has seen a steep rise in the illicit production of coca-leaf in the 1980s. The guide comprises of five sections: the background to the AD programme; the policy context and legal framework for AD design; guidelines for programme implementation at the local level; the global support network for drug control; and the monitoring and assessment of results.

Identifies opportunities and constraints to coca reduction, primarily in Bolivia, Peru and Colombia. Explores potential policy directions by the Federal government to improve the effectiveness of ongoing activities. Contents: factors influencing Coca reduction initiatives; history of selected narcotics supply-reduction efforts; renewable resource-based alternatives to Coca reduction (agricultural, forest, wildlife and wildland, and aquatic); technologies to support alternative crop production; Coca biological control issues. Charts, tables and photos.

Fire in the Andes is a trenchant comparative analysis of why the U.S. drug wars in Bolivia and Peru are failing. While frequent anti-drug battles are won, a flawed policy analysis and strategy have led to strategic foreign policy defeat in the region. This book fills an important gap in our in-depth knowledge of U.S. foreign policy and its application in the drug wars of the high Andes region of South America. Written from the perspective of a former active participant in the U.S. anti-drug policy formulation and implementation efforts, the study uses an in-depth comparative approach to evaluate the effectiveness of the U.S. anti-drug foreign policy in Bolivia and Peru which currently comprise the primary focus of the Clinton Administration's counter-drug efforts to combat narcotrafficking at the source in Latin America today.

The Andean nations of Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia are the heartland of cocaine, as well as a growing heroin source. Using extensive field research, Clawson and Lee examine the configuration of the drug industry from field to arrival in the US, from the farmers to the processors, the traffickers, and the international criminals. They analyze the economic and political impact of the drug business on the Andean nations, including such problems as the undermining of legitimate business and the exacerbation of violence and corruption. The fight against narcotics in the Andean nations has included a wide range of strategies, implemented with varying degrees of enthusiasm - promotion of alternative crops, eradication of plants, destruction of labs, interdiction of flights, and negotiations with drug lords. Some of these policies have had counterproductive social, political, and economic effects, eg, generating popular sympathy for drug kingpins, driving rural populations to support guerrilla movements, attracting new migrant to coca-growing areas, or acting as a coca price support program by destroying excess leaves. The US government has financed much of the Andean counternarcotics effort. Clawson and Lee ask such questions as whether a different mix of policies, with the same dollars spent would have done more to reduce the coca flow, whether curbing narcotics production is an achievable objective (and if not what US overseas programs should attempt to accomplish), and whether the Andean countries would benefit economically and politically from the legalization of drugs.