Word: samper
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Colombia's new President, economist Ernesto Samper, has no plans to take on the kingpins of South America's most formidable cocaine cartel without international help, he declared after winning Sunday's election. Conservative opponent Andres Pastrana, who wanted to push for greater free-market reforms but lost with 48.6 percent of the vote, intimated in his concession speech that Samper's reticence may have something to do with rumors that he accepted campaign contributions from the drug traffickers...
Washington -- Top Clinton Administration officials have met with the two leading candidates in Colombia's presidential elections, Ernesto Samper and Andres Pastrana, to warn them that the CALI DRUG CARTEL -- which controls 80% of the global cocaine market -- is trying to channel drug money into their campaigns to gain influence. "We are deeply worried about a narcodemocracy developing," says a senior U.S. official. Another concern: DEA and State Department officers believe sensitive information provided to Colombian prosecutors has leaked to the cartel and may have led to the deaths of family members of anti-Cali witnesses. So strong is American...
...presence of U.S. military advisers, considered an international embarrassment and a potential threat to the nation's sovereignty. Washington announced plans to expand the military role of U.S. advisers training local antinarcotics teams, though soldiers would be banned from combat. The last thing Colombians want, says presidential contender Ernest Samper, is to "turn Colombia into a Viet Nam against drugs...
...Washington's help to be truly effective, say the Colombians, it must send butter as well as guns. "We not only need help with the war," says Samper, "we also need funds for peace. Without resources to pay the social debt, the violence will multiply." Most Colombians are convinced the worst is yet to come. Predicts General Miguel Maza Marquez, head of the secret police: "The narcos are not suddenly lying low; they are regrouping...
...Colombia's estimated 26,725-ton illegal crop is exported for American use, any plan to legalize the growing of marijuana in Colombia would be politically unwise unless consumption was first legalized in the U.S. This kind of joint venture seems highly unlikely in he near future, so Samper's entire plan may indeed go up in smoke...