Andean summit backs anti-drugs plan

Drug seizures have little impact on the global market

Andean leaders from Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia have endorsed a regional anti-drugs action plan at this week's Andean Community of Nations presidential summit held in Venezuela.

The programme seeks to strengthen anti-drug strategy at all levels, helping affected communities and coordinating policy across the region.

One of the key aspects of the plan is to find alternatives to the coca-based economy such as coffee, bananas and other traditional crops which have been replaced by the more lucrative trade in narcotics.

Drug trade affects Andean development and security

The text of the "Andean Cooperation Plan to Fight Drugs and Related Crime" calls on the world community to assume "shared responsibility" for the causes of the problem and to look for global solutions.

Victims

Colombian President Andres Pastrana praised the scope of the initiative. He said the Andean subregion was one of the main victims of the global drugs problem.

The Andean Community web site says the drugs trade "seriously affects the development and security of the Andean nations and the international community".

The peasants are suffering serious health effects because of the chemical used for eradication

Jorge Rojas

A key goal of the new plan is to prevent producers moving from areas where the crops have been largely eradicated and setting up in neighbouring countries.

Ecuador and Venezuela are concerned about the current crop fumigation policy in Colombia, financed by the US-backed multibillion-dollar drugs offensive that is part of Plan Colombia.

They are strengthening their borders with Colombia to prevent any spillover as drug producers search for new sites to build drug processing laboratories and grow crops.

Alternative development is needed to help coca growers find legal sources of income

Along with the environmental impact of spraying glysophate-based herbicide on illegal crops - often hidden between traditional crops - there are growing concerns at the number of families being displaced as a result of fumigation.

"Powder keg"

The head of the Colombian Human Rights and Displacement Advisory Office, Jorge Rojas, on Saturday told the Cali daily El Pais that tension in the southern region of Putumayo was rising as preparations begin to fumigate coca crops this week.

He described the public order situation in the department, where many people have been forced to leave their homes, as "a powder keg ready to explode".

He said that further fumigation will cause "a stampede of people", adding that this is because "the peasants are suffering serious health effects due to the chemical used for eradication".

Elusive

While the plan aims for a common approach and coordination of policy, Andean unity has been difficult.

"Andean unity remains an elusive goal amid economic turmoil in Bolivia and Ecuador, guerrilla warfare in Colombia and political upheaval in Peru and Venezuela," the Venezuela Online News web site said.

But it said Andean leaders want to adopt a unified stand when negotiating anti-drugs cooperation with other countries, particularly the USA.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.