Latam Leaders Say UN Must Back Drug, Rebel Fight

Fri May 23, 2003 08:04 PM ET By Missy Ryan

CUSCO, Peru (<a href=reuters.com>Reuters) - The United Nations must be more aggressive in helping Andean nations quash drug trafficking and moving against rebel violence in Colombia, presidents at a Latin American summit said on Friday.

"The drug trade and terrorism threaten our democracies ... and we cannot ignore what is happening in Colombia," Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo said in opening a two-day meeting of the Rio Group, which includes 19 democracies from the Rio Grande to Tierra del Fuego.

"We must together ask the ... United Nations to speak out firmly against terrorism and drug trafficking, especially in Andean countries," Toledo added. "There are sister nations (to Colombia) ready to lend a hand in any way they can."

Toledo's invocation echoes a proposal from Ecuadorean President Lucio Gutierrez urging the Rio Group to push for a U.N. resolution seeking a cease-fire from the rebel group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Thousands are killed every year in Colombia, the world's No. 1 cocaine producer, as security forces fight FARC rebels and other armed groups the government says are involved in the drug trade. The Andean region is also home to the world's second- and third-largest cocaine producers, Peru and Bolivia.

Earlier on Friday, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said he welcomed the plan from Gutierrez. Ecuador, like Colombia's other neighbors Venezuela and Peru, has expressed worry about spillover from Colombian violence.

"The Ecuadorean president's proposal seems practical, for all the neighboring, allied and democratic countries to call on the United Nations to ... tell the FARC that a peace process is needed and that they should cease hostilities," Uribe said.

"If the FARC does not accept, we would have to seek another remedy, which should entail all nations helping Colombia defeat terrorism militarily, with authority," he said.

SUPPORT FOR PLAN UNCLEAR

The proposal on fighting drugs and violence was not on the summit's formal agenda, which officials have said will center on making governance more effective, strengthening democratic governments and curbing rampant social unrest.

But Chilean President Ricardo Lagos said the proposal was likely to be adopted at the summit. "The Colombia issue has been examined closely. ... This proposal would allow us to clear up in great measure an issue that is conflictive for all of Latin America," Lagos told reporters.

Officials say the summit -- which will address reforms for political parties and mechanisms to recycle debt service into public works investment -- must buck the trend of high-level meetings long on protocol and short on results.

"I come hoping this won't be just another summit where we make speeches, applaud, take a photo and say 'Ciao,"' said leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who faces stiff political opposition at home. "This continent needs profound economic and social changes."

The United Nations says Latin America should grow close to 2 percent this year as it recovers from a grave economic crisis including a default and devaluation in Argentina and crippling strikes in oil-exporter Venezuela. Last year, the regional economy shrank 0.6 percent.