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Newsbrief:
Colombian
Court
Orders
Fumigation
Halt
--
US,
Colombia
Say
No
Way
7/3/03
A Colombian court has ordered
the immediate halt of the aerial fumigation of proscribed crops in Colombia,
a centerpiece of the US anti-drug strategy there, but both the Colombian
and US governments have vowed to continue spraying anyway. The administrative
tribunal of Cundinamarca on June 25 ordered the immediate suspension of
spraying because the Colombian government had failed to protect the health
and safety of its citizens by engaging in the spraying without examining
its environmental and health impacts.
The Colombian government
immediately announced that it would appeal the ruling and that the ruling
would be suspended until the appeal is heard. And President Alvaro
Uribe added that spraying would halt over his dead body. "Let's speak
frankly," Uribe told El Tiempo, "while I am president of the republic I
will not suspend the spraying. I don't want to deceive the people,
I don't want to say one thing here and another thing there. We are
going to defeat the drugs by whatever means, since they have brought nothing
but violence and problems to the Colombian people."
US State Department spokesman
Charles Barkley told El Tiempo that if Colombia suspended the anti-drug
spraying, US funding for Colombia's war on drug trafficking and leftist
guerrillas could dry up. "The eradication of drugs is the centerpiece
of our effort in Colombia," Barkley said. "We do many things to help
the country, but our central objective, because it affects us directly,
is to slow the drug traffic. Without fumigation, which is the most
effective method to confront the problem from the Colombian perspective,
I doubt very much that Congress would want to continue spending resources."
-- END --
|
Issue #294, 7/3/03
Editorial: Not Just in Texas |
US Appeals Court Kills DEA Interpretive Rule Banning Hemp Foods, But More Battles Remain |
British Cannabis Reform Delayed, Revised to Allow Arrests After Cops Complain |
Canada Approves Safe Injection Site for Vancouver |
Newsbrief: US Suspends Military Aid to Colombia, Others in International Criminal Court Scrap |
Newsbrief: Colombian Court Orders Fumigation Halt -- US, Colombia Say No Way |
Newsbrief: "No Legalization," Says Mexico Anti-Drug Official |
Newsbrief: Another Pain Doc in the Drug War's Sights |
Newsbrief: American Nurses Association Endorses Access to Medical Marijuana |
Newsbrief: Connecticut Lawmakers Call for Sentencing Reform |
Newsbrief: Delaware Cuts Sentences for Some Drug Crimes |
Newsbrief: Poll Finds California Latinos Oppose Jailing Low-Level Drug Offenders |
Bill Maher Benefit Event Monday Night, 7/7, Los Angeles |
The Reformer's Calendar
|
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