[linskyjack]

Whats amazing about this story is that we have given Columbia 3 billion in assistance to fight drugs (since 2000) and are considering another bill to give them another 600,000 million. Is something wrong here or what? What the heck is the drug war? Whose winning?


Colombians claim biggest cocaine bust in history


By Luis Jaime Acosta Fri May 13, 2:36 PM ET

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - Colombian authorities seized $350 million worth of cocaine stashed on a jungle riverbank by far-right paramilitaries, police said on Friday, in what they called the biggest cocaine bust in history.
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Police and the Navy confiscated 13.8 tonnes of cocaine hidden on the banks of the River Mira, near the Pacific Ocean port of Tumaco in southern Colombia, in an operation that ended early on Friday.

With a street value of about $25,000 per kilogram (2.2 pounds) in the United States, where police think the drugs were headed, the cocaine would sell for a total of about $350 million.

"This is the biggest haul ever seized in the world in a single operation, in a single day and in a single place," the head of Colombia's National Police, Gen. Jorge Castro, told a news conference.

The drugs belonged to members of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, an outlawed far-right militia known by its Spanish initials AUC that has killed thousands of people in its brutal campaign against Marxist rebels, police said.

The seizure came just as the U.S. Congress debates a Bush administration request for $600 million in aid money for Colombia's anti-cocaine effort.

Some congressmen have complained that there is no evidence showing the amount of cocaine on U.S. streets has declined despite more than $3 billion in assistance to Colombia since 2000.

Armed agents made five arrests and seized nine assault rifles, communications equipment and eight boats in the operation.

Working with the United States, Colombian authorities have significantly increased seizures in recent years, and confiscated 148 tonnes of cocaine last year.

The lawlessness caused by a four-decade-long guerrilla war has helped make Colombia the world's largest producer of the drug, with the U.S. government estimating the country's criminals produced about 430 tonnes in 2004.

But this is down from about 700 tonnes in 2001, thanks to a U.S.-backed program of spraying illegal coca crops.

Critics of the program point out that U.S. street prices for cocaine have hardly budged over the period, indicating that as much as ever is probably flowing into the country.

Both the AUC and Marxist rebels draw on cocaine money to buy weapons in a conflict that claims thousands of lives a year. But, while they are bloody rivals on the battlefield, the AUC often cooperates with the rebels in the drug trade.

The paramilitaries probably bought the cocaine found on the River Mira from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, police said.

[Wino]

...................Both the AUC and Marxist rebels draw on cocaine money to buy weapons in a conflict that claims thousands of lives a year. But, while they are bloody rivals on the battlefield, the AUC often cooperates with the rebels in the drug trade.

You would think the Bush administration could pull out the Reagan play book and come up with something akin to Iran/Contra to resolve this rivalry.

[Mulderator]

Originally Posted by Linksy

I Thought Wingers Were Anti-Drug?

Depends on the drug!

[guitarman1]

I thought the same thing when I seen the story, I was surprised when they said RIGHT-wing as F.A.R.C. is usually blamed and there lefties.The TV news mentioned no arrests though your article says 5. I would guess that when its burnt there will be a lot of Talcum powder wasted and it will be business as usual as these Colombo's will be bought off with this amount of Coca involved.I would further suggest that they will have plenty more stashed elsewhere as No one would be silly enough to keep all there eggs in the one basket with this serious big time drug business.