Colombia Truce or Consequences?

By Guy D. Garcia

Bloodied but far from beaten, the Colombian cocaine cartel proved last week that it still has the will -- and the means -- to terrorize anyone who dares oppose it. On Monday Pablo Pelaez Gonzalez, a former mayor of Medellin and a vocal critic of the cartel, was being chauffeured from his home in the affluent El Poblado section of the city when at least eight gunmen riddled his car with bullets. Both Pelaez and his driver were killed. The same day, unidentified assailants fire bombed the summer homes of two prominent Medellin business executives. The attacks came as Eduardo Martinez Romero, the drug lieutenant extradited to the U.S., pleaded not guilty in an Atlanta court and was ordered held without bail.

But government troops kept up the pressure, raiding two more ranches belonging to cocaine kingpin Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, where they confiscated two tons of weapons allegedly used by death squads. Yet despite President Virgilio Barco Vargas' determination to continue his crusade against the Extraditables, the monthlong counterattack by the cartel has begun to take its toll. Weary of the violence, Colombians from all sectors of society are calling for a truce and a direct dialogue between the government and the drug barons. Former President Alfonso Lopez Michelson says Colombia will have to "eventually sit down and talk things out with all the forces of destabilization in the country."

While President Bush turned his attention to domestic consumption of drugs, lecturing American students by nationwide television to just say no, the emergency aid he sent to Colombia came under fire. General Miguel Gomez Padilla, chief of the National Police, said that the equipment from Washington was useless in the drug war, complaining that it was "more suited to conventional warfare than to antinarcotics and antiterrorism operations." Gomez later claimed that he had been misquoted and in fact appreciated the aid. Another growing concern for Colombia is the presence of U.S. military advisers, considered an international embarrassment and a potential threat to the nation's sovereignty. Washington announced plans to expand the military role of U.S. advisers training local antinarcotics teams, though soldiers would be banned from combat. The last thing Colombians want, says presidential contender Ernest Samper, is to "turn Colombia into a Viet Nam against drugs."

Colombians are also balking at the economic cost of the drug war. High government officials privately predict the price tag for the war could total . as much as $2 billion by the end of 1990. Officials also warn that if the Colombian Supreme Court, as expected, strikes down President Barco's power to extradite criminals to the U.S., he may be forced to stage a coup to continue his fight.

For Washington's help to be truly effective, say the Colombians, it must send butter as well as guns. "We not only need help with the war," says Samper, "we also need funds for peace. Without resources to pay the social debt, the violence will multiply." Most Colombians are convinced the worst is yet to come. Predicts General Miguel Maza Marquez, head of the secret police: "The narcos are not suddenly lying low; they are regrouping for a big hit."

With reporting by John Moody/Bogota