[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 63 (Wednesday, April 5, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5170-S5171]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            THE DRUG CARTEL

  Mr. COVERDELL. Madam President, yesterday we had a hearing of the 
Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the Foreign Relations Committee in 
the U.S. Senate.
  From time to time, in all the clutter of this city and all the issues 
that we are addressing, something will break through and the magnitude 
of it is so significant that those who are in the presence of it come 
to a standstill. I would suggest that was the nature of the meeting 
held yesterday in the early afternoon in the Senate Dirksen Building.
  What was unfolding in the testimony by a very distinguished American 
was that the United States--and, indeed, this hemisphere--is under 
attack by a grievous, evil, massively equipped enemy in the name of the 
Cali cartel or Mafia, or drug lords running with abandon in this 
hemisphere.
  There are five countries in this hemisphere that are at grave risk at 
this very moment. One is the United States, the second is Mexico, the 
third is Colombia, the fourth is Peru, and the fifth is Boliva; not to 
suggest that there are not other countries in the hemisphere that fall 
prey to the circumstances, but these five countries in particular are 
embroiled in a massive confrontation with this Mafia drug organization.
  Madam President, there is no other threat that more seriously 
challenges the national security of the United States and of this 
hemisphere than these cartels, this Mafia, these drug lords. They are 
threatening the lives and safety and welfare of the citizens of this 
country, the others I have mentioned, and this hemisphere. We are 
suffering more casualties, Madam President, in the United States 
annually than we suffered in the entirety of the Vietnam war.
  I would suggest, Madam President, that the fabric of democracy--this 
is a hemisphere of democracies--the fabric of democracy is threatened 
and at risk this very day in this confrontation with this evil force.
  Let me just share with you for a moment, Madam President, the scope 
of the enemy we are confronting. This Mafia organization earns $12 to 
$15 billion in annual revenues. The cartel has the resources and the 
sophistication to penetrate every fabric of social, political, and 
economic life in this hemisphere. They can literally buy countries. 
These large criminal drug trafficking empires are better armed than 
many police forces. They have more sophisticated equipment than many of 
the armies of the hemisphere. The cartels have the money not only to 
buy the best minds--MBA's, accountants, lawyers--they are buying police 
forces, judicial systems, and in some cases, governments.
  They work around our past interdiction efforts, now flying large 
cargo jets, 727's, with up to 10 tons of cocaine into Mexico, where it 
is then distributed to the United States.
  Madam President, I would like to share some of the remarks that we 
heard yesterday from, as I said, a very distinguished panel of 
Americans.
  First, from Ambassador Robert Gelbard, who is Assistant Secretary of 
State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, a very 
distinguished former Ambassador to Bolivia, very knowledgeable with 
this entire subject. He said:

       The spread of international narcotics trafficking 
     constitutes one of the most persistent and serious challenges 
     to America's foreign and domestic interests in the post-cold-
     war era.

  He went on to say that:

       Cocaine consumption by casual users fell significantly 
     between 1985 and 1992.

  But it is now on the rise again.
  He says:

       The potential for the problem to get worse is great.

  And I would underscore that 100 times.
  We heard from Stephen H. Greene, Deputy Administer of the Drug 
Enforcement Agency. He says:

       The technological capabilities of the Cali Mafia may very 
     well be impenetrable.

  I repeat: It may very well be impenetrable.

       The Cali Mafia has now formed a partnership with 
     transportation organizations in Mexico, with whom they work 
     hand in glove to smuggle increased amounts of drugs across 
     the U.S. border. Drug trafficking organizations in this 
     hemisphere continue to undermine legitimate governmental 
     institutions through corruption and intimidation. Here at 
     home, drug availability and purity of cocaine and heroine are 
     at an all-time high.

  [[Page S5171]] Madam President, Mr. John Walters, who is president of 
the New Citizenship Project and former Acting Director and Deputy 
Director for Supply Reduction Office at the Office of National Drug 
Control Policy, says that:

       Between 1977 and 1992, illegal drug use went from 
     fashionable and liberating to unfashionable and stupid. 
     Overall casual drug use by Americans dropped by more than 
     half between 1985 and 1992.

  A period for which there was intense education about the damage of 
drugs.

       Monthly cocaine use declined by 78 percent.

  That has turned around, Madam President, and now it is skyrocketing.

       Last December, the University of Michigan announced that 
     drug use, particularly marijuana use, by 8th, 10th, and 12th 
     graders rose sharply in 1994, as it did in 1993 after a 
     decade of steady decline.

  These are terribly alarming statistics, affecting the personal 
general safety and welfare of our own citizens.
  Madam President, let me share with you just for a moment the cost 
that this represents to our fellow citizens in this country. Each year, 
the drug cartels ship hundreds of tons of cocaine in the United States, 
killing and maiming more Americans each year than died in all the years 
of engagement in Vietnam. And 2.5 percent of the live births in the 
United States are now cocaine crack exposed babies--100,000 per year. 
We have had a lot of talk about children in this Chamber over the last 
few hours and days. And yet, we seem to accept that 100,000 new babies 
are born as crack babies in the United States. Each year, the cartel 
drains $70 to $140 billion in revenues out of the United States. That 
is $70 to $140 billion, Madam President. If this trend continues, 
820,000 children will try cocaine in their lifetime; 58,000 of them 
will become regular users.
  Well, Madam President, we can get caught up in the statistics, but 
the point I am trying to make here this morning is that the United 
States, Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru are all at grave risk and 
are being challenged openly and directly by a powerful, brutal force 
that on a daily basis is costing the lives of our fellow citizens and 
are putting at jeopardy the very fabric of this democratic hemisphere.
  Madam President, when we get into these discussions, there is a lot 
of fingerpointing. And there is certainly plenty of room to do that.
  I do want to point out, as we address this issue, that in each of 
these countries, there have been citizens who have fought valiantly--in 
the United States, in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia--who have 
fought these problems, who have died fighting these problems. And my 
remarks in that sense are not incriminating. I applaud the efforts that 
have been expended in our country and these others to address the 
problem.
  But the fact remains that we have not solved this issue and there are 
circumstances in each of the countries that must be addressed. I would 
suggest that a new focus needs to be brought to this crisis.
  I would suggest the forming of a new alliance of these five 
countries; that we must come to the table; that we must sit across the 
table from one another and we must approach the new century by lifting 
the bar, by lifting the standard of what we are going to achieve; that 
we must set our sights, these countries directly affected, these 
countries in the hemisphere must bring this era of abuse and attack on 
the citizens of the hemisphere to an end.
  I would suggest that we have the technology to remove the product, 
the coca leaf, and we ought to do so as quickly as possible.
  By the end of this century, the coca leaf should not be able to be 
grown in the hemisphere.
  I read from the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 
issued in March of this year:

       The United States, which has pinpointed the major growing 
     areas, has spray aircraft and a safe herbicide that can 
     destroy illegal cultivation in a matter of months. Since the 
     coca bush does not fully come on line until it is 18 months 
     or 2 years old, these simple measures could deprive the 
     cocaine trade of its basic material, crippling it, if not 
     destroying it entirely. We need the necessary cooperation of 
     the two largest coca growing countries to carry out this 
     simple but effective crop-control measure.

  Madam President, we simply must set as a goal among these five 
countries that we are going to eliminate this source of evil. We have 
the technology to do it. We have the knowledge of where the product is. 
It must be removed.
  The chief kingpins behind these cartels are known and their locations 
are known and they must be arrested. Under the constitutional law of 
each of these countries, there are adequate provisions to arrest, 
detain, and punish these individuals doing so much damage in our 
country and throughout the hemisphere.
  We must seek special rights of extradition so that these criminals 
can be brought to bay in the United States when they attack our 
citizens, as they are doing.
  This is a stealth issue. This is an issue that is pervasive. If any 
other country was pouring chemicals into the United States causing the 
death or maiming of hundreds of thousands of citizens on an annual 
basis, it would not be tolerated. The whole Nation would rise up in 
defense. And yet we are quietly proceeding reducing the resources to 
attack this problem.
  I am going to close, but I will just say that it is time for a new 
focus. I think these five major countries should come to the table. We 
need to mutually agree on the end game that the product will be 
eliminated, that the kingpins will be arrested and will understand that 
they will be on the run for the rest of their lives, and that other 
appropriate measures of cooperation, extradition and other laws for 
interdiction, and the like, will be put in place, and that once those 
standards are mutually agreed upon and that this hemisphere will not 
accept degradation of democracy and an attack on the citizens, we will 
set the bar. People will either participate or we will know permanently 
they are not cooperating.
  I yield the floor.
  Mrs. BOXER addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senator from 
Georgia has 10 minutes to speak. Does the Senator from Georgia wish to 
yield?
  Mr. NUNN. Madam President, I need to go ahead and make my remarks. I 
have been waiting for some time, but I will certainly yield.
  Mrs. BOXER. I would like to make an inquiry if it is possible, that 
concluding the remarks of the Senator from Georgia, I be permitted to 
speak as in morning business not to exceed 10 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senator from 
Indiana [Mr. Coats] is scheduled for 10 minutes. Does the Senator from 
California wish to ask unanimous consent for 10 minutes following the 
Senator from Indiana?
  Mrs. BOXER. Yes, that would be perfectly acceptable. I make that 
request.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Without objection, it is 
so ordered. The Senator from California will have 10 minutes following 
the Senator from Georgia and the Senator from Indiana.
  Mrs. BOXER. I thank my colleagues.
  Mr. NUNN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the time we 
used for that dialog not come out of my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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