[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 141 (Tuesday, September 12, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1760]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


         PROGRESS IN THE BATTLE AGAINST DRUGS IN LATIN AMERICA

                                 ______


                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 12, 1995
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, the deadly Cali drug cartel is on the run 
today like never before. The Colombian National Police to their 
enormous credit, and at great sacrifice in lost lives of many of its 
finest police officers, have long and courageously battled this 
scourge. In recent weeks they have successfully captured or brought 
about the surrender of many of the key drug kingpins, and others 
associated with the deadly Cali cartel. Now the judicial process in 
Colombia hopefully will serve to provide these same unsavory figures 
with prompt trials and the appropriate jail time, commensurate with the 
enormity of their deadly crimes, especially against our young.
  In Peru, President Fujimori has started his second term with a strong 
democratic mandate. He is publicly committed to crushing the narco-
traffickers, as he successfully battled the Shining Path terrorists. 
The results have also been impressive from Peru's air interdiction 
efforts on coca paste headed for Colombia. Today, there are more and 
more drug trafficking flights refueling in Brazil in order to avoid 
detection by these aggressive Peruvian efforts, as they make their way 
into Colombia with their deadly cargo.
  These and other developments in the Andean region and nearby, give 
all us guarded hope that we can expect even more of these courageous 
and impressive results, aimed at the drug cartels and their deadly 
cargo. This issue is a major foreign policy concern of mine and others 
like Mayor Giuliani in New York City, who know full well that this 
scourge of narcotics must be aggressively fought abroad, before these 
drugs hit our streets, and infect our cities and schools.
  All of these recent developments in Latin America present a challenge 
and a tremendous opportunity for U.S. international drug policy and 
interests in the region. It is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss 
to help reduce the level of deadly drugs coming into the United States.
  We all know that once these deadly drugs reach our streets, we suffer 
billions of dollars in related crime, incarceration, health care, lost 
worker productivity, and other social ills and costs. Vice President 
Gore recently put the annual cost to the United States from illicit 
drug use at $67 billion. While that figure is very conservative, as a 
cost analysis, it clearly points out the critical need for our Nation 
to stay focused on this important subject, especially from a foreign 
policy perspective. We must also provide the necessary resources 
abroad, as well as here at home, which are needed to fight this 
epidemic which costs our society so much, in dollars and lives, each 
and every day.
  Now more than ever, we must keep the pressure on the illicit drug 
trade and the drug cartels and we must work cooperatively with all 
concerned nations around the globe against this scourge. Nothing less 
will suffice for the benefit of our youth and the future of our Nation 
and the source and transit countries as well.
  History clearly demonstrates that those nations which facilitate this 
illicit trade, also pay a deadly price in the corruption, violence, and 
inevitable local drug abuse so often associated with this scourge.


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