This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

282104Z Dec 05

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BOGOTA 011959 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/AND 
DEPT FOR INL/RM, INL/LP 
 
E.O. 12956: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR PREL CO EC
SUBJECT: MINI-DUBLIN GROUP MEETING HIGHLIGHTS 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  On December 14, 2005, representatives 
from various European countries and the U.S. met to review 
the Group's annual report on Colombia and to solicit 
additional information from member countries.  The report's 
main point is that eradication and interdiction numbers for 
Colombia are at a record high.  This year's numbers will 
reflect over 166,000 hectares of coca eradicated (equivalent 
to 183 metric tons) and over 300 metric tons of cocaine 
captured.  While street prices in the U.S. have increased, 
the price of cocaine in Europe has remained stable. 
Ecuador's request that the U.N. undertake a new study on the 
effects of glyphosate on human health was brought up, with 
no local United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 
support for the idea.  Glyphosate use in Ecuador is 40 times 
larger than the amount sprayed in Colombia near the border 
with Ecuador.  Colombia has shown its commitment to the 
global fight against drugs by providing funds and property 
for UNODC use.  Support for Colombia's demobilization 
efforts is needed.  European countries are concerned about 
Colombia's borders and about new trafficking routes.   End 
Summary. 
 
Background 
---------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Ambassadors and representatives from various 
European countries including Spain, the United Kingdom, 
France, Sweden, the Czech Republic, the European Union, and 
the U.S. participated in the biannual meeting in Bogota of 
the Mini-Dublin Group, presided over by Spain. 
 
Coca-cultivated Areas 
--------------------- 
¶3. (SBU) On the issue of reduction of areas cultivated, 
Sandro Calvani, the UNODC representative to Colombia, 
informed attendees that the UN's Integrated Illicit Crop 
Monitoring System (SIMCI) has not completed its 2005 study 
of areas under coca cultivation.  SIMCI is still in the 
phase of downloading the information.  SIMCI may be able to 
provide a preliminary assessment to the donor nations (UK, 
USA, Canada, etc.) by the end of February or the beginning 
of March.  The official report would not be publicly 
available until the end of May.  Calvani stated that SIMCI 
had had productive meetings with the U.S. Crime and 
Narcotics Center (CNC), the entity responsible for official 
U.S. government figures on illicit crops.  He said that, 
although there were different SIMCI and CNC figures on the 
number of hectares under cultivation, both study 
methodologies were valid.  Calvani added that since both 
methodologies are correct, but different, this accounted for 
the difference in reported hectarage with coca. 
 
Eradication and Interdiction 
---------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Ambassador Wood gave a recap of 2005 eradication 
figures: over 136,000 hectares sprayed and over 30,000 
hectares manually eradicated to date.  The total for the 
year will exceed 166,000 hectares of coca eliminated, which 
is equivalent to 183 metric tons (mt) of cocaine off the 
streets. 
 
¶5. (SBU) He informed attendees that on the interdiction 
front the GOC, with USG support, had captured or destroyed 
over 165 mt of cocaine HCL within the country, with most of 
the interdiction accomplished by the Colombian National 
Police and the Navy.  Transit area seizures amounted to 
another 139 mt.  Between eradication and interdiction over 
487 mt of cocaine would not reach its destination. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Ambassador Wood highlighted that in November U.S. 
Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Director John 
Walters announced that there had been a 30 percent increase 
in the street price of heroin and a 19 percent increase in 
the street price of cocaine.  In a quick survey of the 
countries' representatives, France, Spain, and the UK said 
the street price of cocaine had remained stable, while in 
the UK wholesale prices had dropped slightly. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Calvani chimed in that the reduction of 
availability did not necessarily result in a price increase 
on the street in Europe.  The wholesale price of cocaine in 
Europe is more than double the price in the USA. 
Traffickers have more leeway to absorb the rising costs 
until they become significant.  When the cost of cocaine 
rises to a certain level, street prices may be affected. 
 
Glyphosate Issue 
---------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Ambassador Wood said that he understood that there 
were doubts about the Organization of American States (OAS) 
study on glyphosate, even among OAS members.  To his 
knowledge, the issue had never been discussed in the OAS, 
nor was there any indication that the OAS as an organization 
was unhappy with the study or wanted someone else to take up 
the issue.  He recalled from his experience in the United 
Nations (UN) that the UN does not ordinarily pre-empt 
regional organizations without full consultation with them. 
Ambassador Wood commented that we wanted to focus on the 
scientific facts, whatever they are.  Therefore, from the 
U.S. point of view, the best course of action would be: (1) 
for the OAS itself to review the study to assess the 
scientific merits of the findings and (2) to suspend other 
action until then. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Calvani concurred with Ambassador Wood.  He made 
explicit mention of Ecuador and said that the UN office in 
Quito had "gotten ahead of themselves."  They had even gone 
so far as to estimate the costs of a UN study, at a price 
that he characterized as "absurd" (his word).  He also noted 
that there was great reluctance inside the UN to take up the 
issue and that there already had been a decision, following 
a high-level meeting, that, if a study were done, UNODC 
would have to play a part. 
 
Spraying in the National Parks - A Chemical Perspective 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) Ambassador Wood said that we were very near to 
receiving approval to spray in the Colombian national parks. 
To place spraying into perspective, Ambassador Wood said it 
requires 550 kilograms (kgs) of liquid chemicals to process 
one hectare of coca leaf into cocaine HCL, chemicals that 
are all dumped into the ground after use.  He compared this 
with five kgs of glyphosate used to spray that same hectare, 
with those five kgs not going into the soil in an active 
state.  He also compared the commercial agricultural use of 
glyphosate, estimated at two million gallons annually in 
Colombia and 800,000 gallons in Ecuador, with the 400,000 
gallons used by the spray eradication program, of which only 
20,000 were used in the area of Colombia near the border 
with Ecuador. 
 
Colombia Asks for Commitment and Itself Ponies Up 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶11. (SBU) Calvani mentioned the visit by Colombian Vice 
President Francisco Santos to Vienna, where Santos asked for 
a more serious commitment from European countries in the 
fight against drugs in Colombia. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Calvani highlighted Colombia's unprecedented step 
of contributing USD 20 million to the global war against 
drugs.  Normally countries in Latin America are recipients 
of anti-narcotics funding, or donate funds to be used in 
their own country, such as the case of Brazil.  The GOC also 
has donated an expropriated property to be used by the UN to 
consolidate all its regional offices. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Ambassador Wood mentioned also the successful 
visit of members of the Afghan government to review all 
aspects of the Colombian counterdrug program and a planned 
follow-up visit by Colombian Anti-Narcotics Police to 
Afghanistan in March or April of 2006. 
 
Demobilization, Demand Reduction, and Alternative 
Development 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶14. (SBU) On the demobilization issue, Ambassador Wood said 
that the group needed to back the GOC so that the areas 
evacuated by narcotraffickers and paramilitaries are not 
taken over by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia 
(FARC). 
 
¶15. (SBU) Calvani said the Colombian government's demand 
reduction programs need updating.  There was interest at the 
local and department level for demand reduction programs, 
but these depended on the good will of civil society and 
private enterprise. 
 
¶16. (SBU) Ambassador Wood said the United States would be 
providing approximately USD 68 million in alternative 
development assistance.  He said alternative development 
should not be a payment for not planting coca, but rather 
should induce the "campesinos" to move from illicit to licit 
crops.  Sustainable rural development is a constant concern 
of the U.S. Embassy.  Colombia has the third highest number 
of internally displaced persons in the world.  The GOC must 
create the necessary security conditions for the displaced 
to return to their homes and become economically 
independent.  The EU representative said the EU wants to 
reinforce assistance to alternative development programs in 
Colombia. 
 
¶17. (SBU) Calvani said that the GOC was doing a poor job of 
mobilizing public opinion on many issues - spraying, 
glyphosate use, etc.  Many Colombians were ignorant of 
important programs in Colombia, such as the "Laboratorios de 
Paz" (Peace Labs). 
 
Money Laundering, Trafficking Patterns, and Precursors 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶18. (SBU) The Spanish chair said that Colombia's borders 
with Venezuela, Brazil, and Ecuador were of special concern. 
Calvani was in agreement that more trafficking is going 
towards the south.  He said that new drug smuggling routes 
were going through Africa--especially Nigeria, Ghana, and 
Cote d'Ivoire--substituting for traditional routes across 
the Atlantic 
 
¶19. (SBU) Calvani reported that the UNODC is implementing a 
program, based in Bogota, for regional conferences or 
seminars on precursor chemical control for governmental 
country representatives and the private sector.  The EU 
representative said that the EU wants to establish a 
database for the registry of precursor chemical shipments. 
 
¶20. (U) The meeting concluded with the Spanish chair 
promising an annual report for member countries. 
 
WOOD