| International Narcotics and Law Enforcement: FY 2002 Budget Justification -Report Home Page Released by the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs May 2001 Andean Counterdrug Initiative* *[Andean Counterdrug Initiative (ACI) program begins in FY 2002. The ACI is the INL component of the Andean Regional Initiative.]
Bolivia
__________________ 1Does not include $110 million in FY 2000 Emergency Supplemental funding. Objectives
Justification The United States Government and the Government of Bolivia share a common goal to halt the production and exportation of cocaine from Bolivia by eradicating illicit coca, increasing the interdiction of essential chemicals and cocaine products, promoting alternative development, and more successfully prosecuting narcotics related cases. The GOB plan to eliminate all illegal coca in Bolivia by 2002 is achievable with sustained effort and increased support. In 1999, the GOB successfully eradicated 68 percent of coca in the Chapare, the principal growing region, and eradicated nearly all of the remaining Chapare coca in 2000. However, sustained efforts will be needed to prevent replanting. The cocaine industry in Bolivia continues to be fragmented into small trafficking organizations, and a highly effective chemical interdiction program has forced Bolivian traffickers to rely on inferior substitutes and recycled solvents causing the purity of Bolivian cocaine to be greatly reduced. Counternarcotics alternative development support remains fully conditioned on the eradication of illegal coca and offers viable options to its cultivation. The wholesale value of licit produce leaving the Chapare is expected to increase from $56 million in 2000 to more than $91 million by 2002. The eradication and alternative development programs is expanding into the Yungas in 2001 when the GOB begins eradicating illegal coca in that region. However, the expected increased tempo of operations in Colombia as a result of significant supplemental resources from the Congress provided in FY 2000 is likely to cause a displacement of coca cultivation throughout the Andean region. Bolivia has become a transshipment zone for Peruvian cocaine products enroute to Brazil. Bolivian coca leaf prices are the highest they have been since 1996, increasing the temptation for coca growers to plant new seedlings—perhaps in areas where it has not traditionally been seen before. There is also substantial diversion of Yungas "legal" coca to the illicit market and few controls on the sale of coca leaf in the legal markets. FY 2002 Programs. The FY 2002 budget request is significantly larger than previous years because of the need to conduct parallel counternarcotics operation in two distinct regions, the Chapare, where replanting of coca must be prevented, and the Yungas, where many displaced narcotics traffickers from the Chapare have relocated and areas of legal and illegal coca are not clearly defined. This effort will require increases in both manpower and commodities. The FY 2002 budget request is needed to support Bolivian efforts to eliminate all illegal coca cultivation and processing through support for law enforcement operations and chemical control efforts, enhancing investigations and prosecutions of major drug traffickers, improving intelligence gathering and dissemination, improving the quality of investigations into alleged human rights violations, and supporting ongoing efforts to strengthen the Bolivian judicial system. The budget request will support continued economic growth in the Chapare and expansion of counternarcotics alternative economic development programs to the Yungas regions of Bolivia, as well as helping Bolivia to meet its international financial obligations and stabilize its economy, a necessary condition for sustained growth. Bolivia, one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere with a per capita GNP of less than $900 in 2000, is unable to support any of the present counternarcotics or alternative development programs on its own. There are twenty-four counternarcotics programs in Bolivia for which INL provides funding and support. They can be grouped into four distinct areas: Narcotics Law Enforcement and Eradication; Counternarcotics Alternative Development and Economic Incentives; Rule of Law and Administration of Justice; and Program Development and Support. The Narcotics Law Enforcement and Eradication Operations Projects support civilian police units—that conduct counternarcotics law enforcement—and coca eradication operations and the military units dedicated to counternarcotics operations. It also assists the Office of the Vice-Minister of Social Defense to assume greater responsibility for planning, coordinating and funding the GOB’s counternarcotics efforts. Police units receiving U.S. support include the Special Force for the Fight Against Narcotics Trafficking (FELCN), with its uniformed interdiction force; the Police Rural Mobile Patrol Units (UMOPAR), and the Special Prosecutors of Controlled Substances that are assigned to the units; the Office of Professional Responsibility, which investigates allegations of corruption and human rights violations by narcotics police; various criminal investigative and intelligence gathering units; canine units; and two schools—the International Anti-Narcotics Training Center (Garras Del Valor) and the International Waterways Law Enforcement Training School. The Bolivian military provides transport and logistics support to the police via air, land and river. The Red Devils Task Force (RDTF) consists of Bolivian Air Force units operating UH-1H helicopters used in eradication enforcement operations, and C-130 aircraft used to transport police, heavy equipment, and pre-stage fuel in areas not reachable by road or made impassable through much of the year by heavy rains. The Blue Devil Task Force (BDTF), a Bolivian Naval unit with law enforcement authority, is responsible for maintaining a military/counternarcotics law enforcement presence on all rivers and waterways in Bolivia to deny narcotics traffickers the use of fluvial transportation and to make arrests and seizures. The army Green Devil Task Force (GTDF) provides extensive ground mobility/logistics support to the police. FY 2002 will be the final year of the Bolivian five-year plan to eliminate illegal coca cultivation. The successes of the GOB "Plan Dignidad" must be consolidated to ensure that coca cultivation and drug trafficking do not regain a foothold in Bolivia. The institutionalization of this effort will depend largely on the Ecological Police, DIRECO, the Joint Eradication Task Force, and the newly re-formed General Directorate for the Legal Trade of Coca (DIGECO), which will control and closely monitor the two legal coca markets in the Yungas to prevent deviation to illicit markets. While coca cultivation has been almost totally eliminated from the Chapare, the eradication task force must ensure that replanting does not occur, particularly as a result of Plan Colombia successes in the region. Eradication operations in the Yungas will encounter challenges not found in the Chapare operation. Illegal coca cultivation occurs at very high altitudes, at which the present inventory of INL helicopters in Bolivia will not be able to operate. Coca is located in remote areas that are well guarded by resistant and militant coca growers, making it difficult, dangerous and costly to remove. INL plans to improve a GOB military airstrip in the Yungas region to enable the C-130B aircraft to fly in supplies and personnel. Ground transportation will then have to move these resources to areas where counternarcotics operations are taking place. However, the Inter-American Development Bank has dubbed the road traversing the Yungas "the world’s most dangerous road". Aside from tricky hairpin turns, the rocky and rutted road is seldom wider than eleven feet, necessitating its closure at either end by soldiers to allow only one-way traffic during varying times of the day. Coca eradication, law enforcement and alternative development programs will require additional resources and new infrastructure, including road improvements, in the Yungas region. A new task force consisting of military, police and civilian personnel was established in 2001 to carry out eradication operations in the Yungas. Expanded INL support for interdiction, particularly along border areas, will be key to head off any influx of drug trafficking activity resulting from Plan Colombia implementation. Increased support for the Controlled Substance Prosecutors, and re-establishing support for the Seized Assets Directorate (discontinued in 1998 due to inefficiency and corruption, but now refocused under the Minister of Government) are part of this strategy. Traditional support in areas such as equipment purchases, salary supplements, fuel purchases, and vehicle maintenance continue to generate substantial funding requirements. These requirements will increase as the focus of interdiction and eradication shifts to the Yungas region, and the success of interdiction efforts become more dependent upon effective intelligence gathering and analysis. Communications equipment, accessories and spare parts necessary to maintain and expand a secure communications environment are especially critical to the eradication and interdiction forces that face the possibility of violent ambushes and attacks from coca growers and traffickers in the Chapare and Yungas. In April 2001, a new canine training facility opened outside of Cochabamba to address the growing needs of this important interdiction program. Additionally, the Garras School, currently at its maximum operating capacity, will be expanded in size and curriculum to maintain the professional capabilities of the counternarcotics police in anticipation of increased operational requirements as a result of Plan Colombia’s effects in the region. FELCN offices, UMOPAR barracks, and related facilities will also undergo expansion and improvements as interdiction operations increase. Logistic support requirements and expenses will increase as counternarcotics investigative and operational efforts are expanded along the border regions to stem the tide of Peruvian cocaine products being transshipped through Bolivia. Because the Bolivian chemical industry does not produce the full range of precursor chemicals needed to process coca leaf into cocaine base and HCL, cocaine essential chemicals must be imported from neighboring countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Chile. Improved cross-border cooperation in chemical interdiction and enforcement, as well as improved law enforcement intelligence gathering capabilities are needed. The continued replacement of a rapidly aging fleet of USG-provided vehicles, the normal wear and tear of which is accelerated by their use in rough terrain, will be exacerbated by operations in the Yungas region. Two maintenance facilities will be constructed in the Yungas to support vehicles for ground operations. However, because ground transportation will be slow and difficult in the Yungas, the drug-control efforts will become even more reliant on the C-130 aircraft, two more of which will be delivered to Bolivia in FY 2001. Funding for fuel and vehicle spare parts, previously covered by Foreign Military Financing (FMF), is also now provided by INL. The very small amount of FMF available for Bolivia is used solely to procure training, weapons and ammunition unavailable except from U.S. military sources. The success of the counternarcotics strategy depends, to a large extent, on the ability of the GOB to advance Bolivian public understanding that the cultivation of coca and its processing into cocaine as a serious problem for Bolivia, not just for the U.S. INL support for Drug Awareness and Prevention Programs will be especially important in the Yungas, the traditional "legal" coca growing area, to pave the way for initiating eradication, interdiction and alternative development projects. The Counternarcotics Alternative Development and Economic Incentives Project, CONCADE, supports the GOB’s efforts to enable Chapare farmers to support themselves and their families without the need to cultivate coca. CONCADE was originally intended to service 3,000 Chapare families per year with technical assistance to grow high value legal crops. Other donors were expected to provide additional assistance. Because the GOB eradicated twice as much coca in CY 1999 as had been expected, 8,000 Chapare families did not receive technical assistance, planting material, infrastructure and extension services. At the same time, assistance from some other potential donors did not materialize. Continued counternarcotics alternative development assistance is needed to increase and consolidate the capacity of nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and private firms to expand technology transfer, extension services, establish new agricultural processing facilities to former coca-producing farm families, to pave roads and provide electrification to sustain communities that are moving to legitimate crops and enterprises. Eradication operations to eliminate some 2,000 hectares of illicit coca in the Yungas region begin in CY 2001. While counternarcotics alternative and economic development will play a significant role in the success of this endeavor, it will also help lay the groundwork for significant future reductions in legal coca to a level consistent with traditional licit consumption. The Rule of Law/Administration of Justice Project supports structural judicial reform in Bolivia through implementation of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP). The CCP was enacted into law in 1999 and INL is currently supporting programs to lay the groundwork for implementation in May 2001, when the code goes into effect. A National Implementation Plan will assist the GOB to train police, prosecutors and judges, promote civil society participation, reduce criminal case backlogs, strengthen judicial institutions, and establish new laws to update police powers and sentencing, and modernize the public ministry and judicial branch. The Program Development and Support funds will provide for salaries, benefits and allowances of U.S. and foreign national personnel, short-term temporary duty (TDY) personnel, and other general administrative and operating expenses for program planning, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Effectiveness Measurements
Bolivia INL Budget ($000)
_______________________ 1INL funded; USAID administered. Brazil Budget Summary ($000)
__________________ 1Does not include $3.5 million in FY 2000 Emergency Supplemental funding. Objectives Justification The recent implementation of Plan Colombia has heightened concerns over potential spillover of narcotics activity into Brazil. Brazil shares borders with all three drug source countries in the region, and more than half of Brazil’s 8.5 million square kilometers is in the sparsely populated Amazonian region. It’s long, porous borders, as well as its well developed communications infrastructure, banking system, and major international airports and seaports, continue to make it a highly desirable transit route for illicit narcotics bound for the U.S. and European markets. These factors, coupled with increasingly successful enforcement efforts in neighboring countries, have contributed to a growing drug transit problem for Brazil. In response to these concerns, Brazil, in late 2000, implemented "Operation Cobra," an ambitious three-year Brazilian government inter-agency effort which allocates greater resources in the Amazonian border area for security and illegal narcotics control. INL intends to expand its programs in Brazil in conjunction with Operation Cobra. FY 2002 Programs. The significant increase in resources requested for Brazil is needed to support programs designed to combat the growing problem of cross-border narcotrafficking, such as Operation Cobra, and in response to measures needed to support the administration’s overall Andean Regional Initiative for Colombia and the bordering countries. The FY 2002 request for the Narcotics Law Enforcement Project will increase intelligence project capabilities and strengthen police counternarcotics infrastructure, enhance rule of law and administration of justice, and at this critical juncture, assist the Brazilian Federal Police to continue to implement Operation Cobra. Increased funding will also assist Brazilian efforts to step up counternarcotics security at major ports, and increase mobile road interdiction operations along the increasingly important southern route for smuggling narcotics, which runs from Bolivia and Paraguay through Sao Paulo and Rio de Janiero to the U.S. and Europe. Upgrading police communications equipment with a secure network system will be key to the success of Operation Cobra, as will the addition of new digital cellular and high frequency intercept equipment and training. Increased patrolling of the Amazon region will also require construction of two new river barges that will act as floating river checkpoints. Additional harbor/coastal patrol boats, zodiacs, Boston Whalers, 4-wheel drive vehicles and troop transport trucks are also needed for this massive law enforcement initiative. Increased operations at airports in the Northeast and Northwest corners of Brazil will require additional canine units and training. Operation Cobra and other new law enforcement initiatives have put a strain on currently available resources required to replace/supply needed field gear such as tents, cots, mosquito nets and bullet proof vests. Drug use continues to increase in Brazil, particularly among young people. In FY 2002, the Drug Awareness and Demand Reduction Project will increase support for demand reduction programs through the National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD), funding grants for PROERD, a highly successful school-based education program modeled on the U.S. DARE concept, and for other demand reduction and education programs throughout the country that promote awareness of problems associated with drug abuse. Program Development and Support funds will provide for salaries, benefits, and allowances of permanently-assigned full-time U.S. personnel and other general administrative and operating expenses for program planning, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Effectiveness Measurements Brazil INL Budget ($000)
Colombia Budget Summary ($000)
______________________ Objectives
Justification The U.S. provides assistance in support of Colombia’s efforts to counter the drug trafficking threat to its security, political system and economy; to counter the threat such activities present to the security, health and well-being of U.S. citizens; and to disrupt the narcotics trafficking infrastructure. The primary points of focus of the INL-funded counternarcotics program are support for the Colombian National Police (CNP) Directorate of Anti-Narcotics (DIRAN) counternarcotics activities and sustainment of programs launched with funding for the FY 2000 Emergency Supplemental. The program budget funds the aerial eradication program, investigations aimed at the disruption of trafficker organizations and the interdiction of precursor chemicals, cocaine production facilities and shipments of finished cocaine HCL. These efforts are primarily the continuation of on going programs and are integrated into and supportive of Plan Colombia, the Colombian Government’s comprehensive national strategy. The $48 million of the FY 2001 Colombia program budget was supplemented by $1.3 billion in FY 2000 Emergency Supplemental provided by the U.S. Congress in support of Plan Colombia, of which $838.5 million went for assistance to Colombia alone. This supplemental funding is being used to meet critical Colombian needs for helicopters, base security improvements, justice sector reform, human rights protection, and expanded counternarcotics alternative development assistance. Counternarcotics assistance is provided for DIRAN and other CNP elements, the National Narcotics Directorate (DNE), the National Plan for Alternative Development (PLANTE), elements of the military involved in counternarcotics, and other Colombian government entities, like the Civil Aviation Administration. USG assistance supports the world’s largest aerial eradication program that targets both coca and opium poppy cultivation. It also provides operational funds to dismantle narcotics trafficking organizations by strengthening those institutions responsible for investigation of crimes, evidence gathering, arrests, prosecutions, asset seizures, and other law enforcement actions. Other project activities include improving coordination of CNP and military counternarcotics actions, completing infrastructure support programs, supporting counternarcotics alternative development, improving the security of Colombia’s ports and sustaining public awareness and education projects. FY 2002 Programs. The primary USG counternarcotics goal in Colombia is to help the Government of Colombia (GOC) to eliminate all illicit cultivation and the infrastructure which supports production of illicit drugs. In order to achieve this goal, assistance will concentrate on discouraging cultivators or would-be cultivators, and on increasing the GOC’s institutional capabilities in this area. The aerial eradication program is the most powerful tool for accomplishing this, and its scope will continue to expand. Results to date have been mixed due to the difficulty of getting sufficient aerial eradication assets to remote growing areas. The United States will continue to work with the CNP and the newly created counterdrug brigade of the Colombian Army (COLAR) to produce a substantial net decrease in the crop size and cocaine production and trafficking facilities, particularly in the southern departments of Putumayo and Caqueta. Funds will address the on-going training and equipment needs for this 2,500-man unit and support the helicopters to provide the air mobility needed for the brigade to fulfill its mission. The effort in southern Colombia will also rely heavily upon the expansion of the CNP Air Service and Airmobile Companies and the establishment of Forward Operating Locations (FOLs) for the various public security elements involved in counternarcotics operations. Simultaneously, the bilateral effort will continue to support the CNP’s opium poppy eradication campaign, which aims to eliminate the entire crop within two years. The United States will also continue support to Colombia’s alternative development efforts in areas where illegal drug crops are grown. USG assistance to this project reinforces eradication efforts by providing viable alternatives for small farmers currently dependent on illicit cultivation and to help those persons displaced by counternarcotics efforts. The United States will also provide continued support for CNP operations aimed at the destruction of emerging narcotics trafficking syndicates through the arrest and prosecution of syndicate leaders and the confiscation of their assets, and to discourage money-laundering activity. Similarly, funding will support projects to improve the efficiency of Colombia’s court and prison systems. Finally, U.S. assistance will sustain GOC drug awareness and education programs that seek to dissuade Colombians from engaging in illegal drug use and trafficking. The Narcotics Law Enforcement Project for FY 2002 requests an increase for commodity, training and operational support for the CNP units involved in eradication and law enforcement interdiction operations. This increase represents recognition of the central role of Colombia in narcotics trafficking and U.S. resolve to combat it as close to the source as possible. The DIRAN will remain the principal GOC recipient of U.S. counternarcotics assistance to Colombia. The expansion of eradication efforts will require substantial support above FY 2001 appropriated levels for the CNP air wing, including aircraft parts and maintenance, aviation fuel and lubricants, herbicide and other aviation-related support costs. These include pilots and rotary- and fixed-wing maintenance and logistics technicians funded by INL. Additionally, INL provides funding for a variety of DIRAN operating costs, including such items as maintenance and fuel for INL-supplied and CNP-owned vehicles, office supplies and equipment, maintenance of communications and other equipment, utility costs, and minor facilities maintenance and repair. The Armed Forces Counternarcotics Support Project will provide assistance to military units that support the CNP’s counternarcotics efforts or conduct independent counternarcotics operations. A central element of the counternarcotics effort in southern Colombia, the Counternarcotics Brigade, will have substantial needs for sustainment funds. Chief among these needs will be the brigade’s air mobility. In addition to the understandable demand for ammunition and fuel will be a demanding parts and maintenance requirement complicated by the use of three distinct platforms: UH-1N, Huey II, and UH-60. Furthermore, while the FY 2000 Emergency Supplemental provides for pilot training, there is a continuing need to train replacement pilots. In order to do their jobs, members of the counternarcotics battalions will need a reliable supply of field and communications gear, as well as weapons and ammunition. Also needed is continued training support so that new troops can be readied to replace those lost to retirement, reassignment and combat. These troops, like their predecessors, will need to be vetted by the U.S. Embassy, which will also have continuing end-use monitoring and human rights monitoring obligations that will require sustained USG funding. The Colombian Air Force will receive maintenance assistance and training for its helicopter fleet and fixed-wing C-130, OV-10, and A-37 units, as warranted, to advance the overall counternarcotics effort through an expanded program of aerial interdiction and support for ground operations. The Colombian Navy and its Marine branch are expected to manage a counternarcotics campaign on the rivers and the coast. Equipment, training, and technical assistance will be provided to Colombian riverine and coast guard harbor patrol programs. The Counternarcotics Alternative Development Program is an INL-funded, primarily USAID-administered alternative development pilot program in USG-selected drug growing regions. The project works in conjunction with PLANTE, the GOC’s alternative development program, and aims to implement a full array of sustainable counternarcotics activities, including the cultivation of alternate legal crops, infrastructure expansion, environmental management, and program monitoring support. Alternative development and related social development programs are time- and resource-intensive, and will be implemented in combination with eradication operations. Increased funding levels for alternative development and social programs will be required as eradication operations reach further into growing regions. Alternative development projects generated by the "Push into Southern Colombia" involve an estimated 5,000 families, and unlike eradication, which is a specific event, requires the creation of infrastructure and the transition to a legal economy. These are processes that require extended periods of time to mature, meaning that the ongoing projects continue to demand resources even as new areas are added to the program. Funds also support direct efforts of industry groups seeking to establish local ventures. USAID and the Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration will continue to receive funding from the Colombia program to provide assistance to internally displaced persons. The assistance is provided primarily through grants to international organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and UNICEF. These efforts are coordinated with PLANTE and other elements of the Government of Colombia. The Counternarcotics Policy Project includes support for the GOC’s counternarcotics policy board, the National Narcotics Directorate (DNE). A permanent DNE research staff recommends, coordinates and monitors many aspects of Colombian counternarcotics policy. The DNE will coordinate and/or sponsor international meetings to foster contact with counterparts in donor and trafficking/producing countries and will carry out environmental monitoring. This project will also fund the purchase of commodities or services needed to support antinarcotics programs in the offices of the Colombian Attorney General and the Prosecutor General, and in the Ministry of Justice and the Courts. Given the fundamental importance of human rights to the INL program in Colombia, projects in the area of judicial reform, particularly programs meant to enhance the physical protection of witnesses, judges and human rights workers, will require continued support. The same is true for Colombia’s human rights investigative units. In addition to the support for these investigative units, funding will also be provided to improve the physical security of human rights monitors and activists. Funds will continue to be provided to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to assist its local offices, and for human rights monitoring efforts of both the Colombian Government and the U.S. Embassy. The Drug Awareness and Demand Reduction Project will fund programs to support NGOs and community-based programs; publish and disseminate narcotics education and prevention materials; design and implement public drug awareness campaigns; and sponsor conferences and visits in support of the above activities. Program Development and Support Effectiveness Measurement: Colombia INL Budget ($000)
_______________ 1Does not include $20 million in FY 2000 Emergency Supplemental funding. Objectives
Justification Spillover effects from the drug eradication efforts and related ongoing violence in neighboring Colombia are threatening Ecuador’s national security. The security situation along Ecuador’s northern border—particularly in Sucumbios province, where most of Ecuador’s oil wealth is located—has deteriorated sharply in recent months due to increased Colombian guerrilla, paramilitary and criminal violence. The insecurity on Ecuador’s northern border is having a severe impact on the country’s overall political and economic stability as well. To assert control over the northern border, the government of Ecuador will require significantly greater USG security and counternarcotics assistance. Ecuador has become a major staging and transshipment area for drugs and precursor chemicals due to its geographical location between two major cocaine source countries, Colombia and Peru. In addition, it has long served as a resupply and rest/recreation site for Colombian insurgents. Arms and munitions trafficking from Ecuador into southern Colombia fuel the violence there. Cocaine and heroin are transported into Ecuador primarily overland by truck on the Pan-American Highway. Narcotics traffickers exploit Ecuador’s porous borders and poorly controlled seaports to consolidate smuggled drugs into larger loads for bulk shipment to the United States and Europe hidden in containers of legitimate cargo. Precursor chemicals imported by ship into Ecuador are diverted to cocaine processing laboratories in southern Colombia. In addition, the Ecuadorian police and army have discovered an increasing number of cocaine refining laboratories on the northern border. Although large-scale coca cultivation has not yet spilled over the border, there are numerous small, scattered plots of coca. As a result, Ecuador could become a drug producer, in addition to its current role as a major drug transit country, unless law enforcement programs are strengthened. The Ecuadorian congress passed a new criminal justice procedural code which will fundamentally change the country’s legal system from an inquisitorial to an accusatorial-style system. The purpose of the reform is to strengthen the criminal justice system and speed up the process by converting to oral trial procedures. Under the new system, the roles of police, prosecutors, judges and other elements of the legal system will be profoundly changed. FY 2002 Programs. During the next two years, Ecuador will face an even greater threat to its internal stability due to spillover effects from Colombia counternarcotics operations. At the same time, deteriorating economic conditions in Ecuador have limited budgetary support for its police. As a result of these two factors, the Ecuadorian National Police (ENP) will need significant increases in USG support to confront the increased drug trafficking and cultivation threat on its northern border. The Law Enforcement Project will support the efforts of the ENP to strengthen its presence on the northern border by establishing new checkpoints at strategic highway intersections and a new police headquarters complex in Lago Agrio in the Sucumbios province. With USG commodity and operational assistance, the ENP is increasing the size of its mobile highway drug interdiction unit from 20 to 100 policemen. This unit will be deployed at the new highway checkpoints, to be built at Lumbaqui (Sucumbios province), Tulcan (Carchi) and San Lorenzo (Esmeraldas). The unit will also act as the ENP’s rapid reaction force to criminal or insurgent threats along the highways. With USG assistance, the ENP is developing communications networks to connect these units with police intelligence centers in Quito and Guayaquil for command and control. In addition, under the new criminal justice procedural code, the ENP will have to completely revamp its criminal investigative procedures in order to comply with the fundamental reform of the Ecuadorian justice system to an accusatorial system based on evidence and oral testimony. The project will provide technical assistance to support the massive retraining effort needed to enable the ENP to build successful cases for the prosecution of drug traffickers and other criminals. Counternarcotics assistance to the Ecuadorian military through the Northern Border Security Project will strengthen their capacity to provide security and to improve operational coordination and logistical cooperation with the ENP. This project includes procurement of communications equipment, vehicles, provision of fuel and spare parts for the Ecuadorian army, design of infrastructure improvements for the Ecuadorian navy, and some logistical assistance to the Ecuadorian air force for transport aircraft. The project also provides operations and maintenance funding for helicopters to increase mobility for Ecuadorian military and law enforcement agencies on the northern border. USAID has been working intensively on Alternative Development with the GOE’s unit for development of the northern border (UDENOR) to support alternative, licit production options that will create a "productive barrier" along Ecuador’s increasingly vulnerable northern border. The GOE recognizes that in recent years the economy of this region has simply escaped their control and increasingly provided direct support for illicit activities based in Colombia. During FY 2000, USG funds totaling $8 million were provided to support an agreement with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to initiate a chain of community infrastructure projects across the three principal border provinces of Sucumbios, Carchi and Esmeraldas, with part of this sum dedicated to assist UDENOR. While the geographic focus of the alternative development project will continue with these three border provinces, FY 2002 funding will also extend to productive activities in Napo, also considered increasingly vulnerable to cross-border influence from Colombia. The GOE may request that the USG partially fund some of the activities that emerge from a major donor’s conference regarding Ecuador’s northern Amazon region which USAID is coordinating with both the GOE and the Inter-American Development Bank. The bulk of cocaine and heroin transiting Ecuador from Colombia and Peru is smuggled out of sea and airports concealed in shipments of legitimate cargo destined for the U.S. and Europe. At present, only a small percentage of outbound cargo is inspected prior to embarkation. The Sea and Airport Control Project will assist the ENP, which is responsible for the physical inspection of all outbound and inbound cargo, in enhancing its facilities, equipment, technical expertise and manpower. This project will also continue USG commodity and technical assistance support for the ENP canine units operating at Ecuador’s two principal international airports (Quito and Guayaquil), which have been very successful in interdicting small quantities of drugs transported by body carriers on international flights. Canine units operating at the Guayaquil seaport have scored some major seizures of drugs hidden in outbound containers, and they have now been integrated into the overall ENP antidrug division command structure and form the nucleus of the sea and airport inspection service. With U.S. assistance, the ENP developed a seaport Joint Information Coordination Center (JICC) in Guayaquil, with links to DEA/EPIC; continued assistance to the JICC will strengthen it and increase its effectiveness in the fight against drug trafficking. Ecuador’s national drug commission (CONSEP) is responsible for drug policy development and coordination and directly operates a chemical control program, an anti-money laundering unit, and drug prevention campaigns. It also manages properties seized from drug traffickers under the asset forfeiture provisions of Ecuador’s drug laws, certifies Ecuador’s drug treatment and rehabilitation programs, and develops drug education and prevention campaigns. CONSEP’s comprehensive national drug strategy, assigns clear roles to government agencies and military services in the fight against drug trafficking. The Interagency Coordination and Legal Reform Project will reinforce the technical assistance given to CONSEP by OAS/CICAD to reform the existing Ecuadorian organic drug law (law 108). Reforms proposed include broadening the scope and definition of money laundering as that derived from any illicit activity, and authorizing the use of controlled deliveries, electronic surveillance and other modern law enforcement techniques. The project will also continue USG commodity support to CONSEP’s programs by procuring computer equipment for the chemical control unit and by providing training assistance to the money laundering unit. Additional funding will be provided for drug prevention and education, which will assist in garnering greater political support for tougher law enforcement actions against drug traffickers, especially in the northern border areas. Program development and support funds will provide salaries, benefits and allowances of U.S. and foreign national personnel, short-term TDY assistance, and other administrative and operating expenses for program planning, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Effectiveness Measurements Ecuador INL Budget ($000)
|
