Page:Title 3 CFR 2000 Compilation.djvu/361

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Other Presidential Documents low as 47 percent, causing Brazilian and other traffickers to buy only Boliv- ian cocaine base and finish the processing in Brazil. The GOB began preparations for an eradication program in the Yungas in 2000 to eliminate the coca exceeding the legally allowable 12,000 hec- tares. There is evidence that Yungas coca is being diverted to the illicit market for conversion to cocaine products. Despite a slight downturn in the Bolivian export sector in 1999, export volumes of nearly all alternative development crops improved. Banana ex- ports to Chile and Argentina increased 20 percent over \177998. Demand for alternative development assistance by former coca farmers, however, is ex- ceeding supply. In \177999, the Bolivian legislature enacted the final portion of the judicial reform package, the new code of criminal procedures. It establishes an ac- cusatory, adversarial, oral, public criminal trial system that may also help to diminish corruption and improve the credibility of the iudicial system. The new code permits the police to use undercover agents and to make controlled deliveries of illicit drugs and other contraband. The Judicial Council, created in \177998 to depo]iticize the selection of iudges and to serve as a mechanism for disciplining members of the iudiciary, had some of its powers to administratively remove corrupt iudges diminished by the Con- stitutional Tribunal, which ruled that members of the iudiciary can only be removed subsequent to a final iudgement by a criminal court. For the third year since the passage of the anti-money laundering law, no action was taken against money laundering. The legal ambiguities re- garding asset seizure and forfeiture have not been resolved, and the system remains inefficient. Brazil Brazil is a significant transit country for illicit drugs en route to the United States, and a maior producer of precursor chemicals and synthetic drugs. Since taking office in \177995, the administration of President Fernando Enrique Cardoso has demonstrated a firm commitment to countering the flow of illegal drugs through Brazilian territory, and to establishing an ef- fective law enforcement infrastructure capable of taking action against the domestic and international criminal syndicates engaged in drug trafficking. In 1999, the Government of Brazil (GOB) worked closely with regional neighbors and U.S. law enforcement agencies in pursuit of mutual counter- drug obiectives, achieving particularly impressive results against corruption and money laundering. The most visible initiative in \177999 was the formation in April of the Congressional Panel of Inquiry (CPI) on drug trafficking. The Panel's high- profile investigations into the country's organized drug networks have led to over \1775 arrests, including many tainted government officials. Through its actions, the CPI has illustrated the drug trade's corrosive effect on pub- lic institutions and energized previously isolated voices against corruption and trafficker impunity. Criminal interests have long exploited Brazil's highly developed finan- cial sector, particularly as a haven for illicit-drug profits. In \177999 the GOB demonstrated a firm commitment to fighting the problem of money laun- dering, and implemented regulations to increase the effectiveness of Bra- zil's anti-money laundering regime. The Brazilian Central Bank created a 36'1