AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH UNODC DIRECTOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 001297

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/07/2015
TAGS: SNAR PTER PREL PINR CO
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH UNODC DIRECTOR


Classified By: Ambassador William B. Wood for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d).


1. (SBU) On February 3, Ambassador met with Antonio Maria
Costa, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and local UNODC representative
Ambassador Sandro Calvani on the margins of the international
cooperation meeting in Cartagena. Ambassador expressed
concern about the recent publication on the UNODC website of
claims that aerial eradication was only a temporary solution
to drug cultivation in Colombia, and that it is now one-third
less effective in terms of coca sprayed and destroyed than it
was a year ago. He asked Costa if this information had been
discussed with the Colombian National Police (CNP),because
neither the Embassy or any entity of the USG had been
consulted regarding the content of the report. Calvani said
the UN had not issued a new report and had no plans to do so.
The information on the website was put there mistakenly when
the UNODC office in Bogota was transferring slides -- some of
which were incorrect -- to UNODC headquarters in Vienna.
Regarding the website's reference to aerial eradication as a
"temporary" solution, Calvani explained that it was caused by
the writer's imperfect English; the author meant that coca
farmers often replant and that areas must often be sprayed
more than once. Neither Calvani nor anyone at mission
headquarters approved the incorrect slides. He apologized
for the error, said the slides had been removed from the
website, and promised a full explanation in writing.


2. (C) Ambassador and Costa agreed for better coordination
and closer cooperation on issues such as data comparison and
analysis. Costa noted European nations' general aversion to
aerial eradication, while Ambassador observed that security
concerns make manual eradication extremely difficult, leaving
aerial eradication as the safest and most cost-effective
means of combating the problem in most cases. Costa said he
personally supports aerial eradication, and since President
Uribe is committed to it, the UN supports it as well. He
added that the UN is not as concerned with the method of
eradication as it is with the bigger question of how much
coca is actually on the ground.


3. (C) Ambassador asked Costa to inform the USG and Embassy
directly if UNODC's policy changed to one hostile to aerial
eradication and emphasizing manual eradication. Costa said
UNODC has no specific reasons to oppose aerial eradication,
saying it comprises half of the counternarcotics strategy,
the other half being assistance to farmers. He said European
donations were limited in Colombia and expressed his
gratitude for the NAS funding UNODC has received.
WOOD