Meanwhile, In Latin America

By Alain L. Sanders

As the U.S. wages its frustrating domestic offensive against cocaine, Latin American countries are embroiled in their own drug battles. An update from the foreign fronts:

Colombia. An eerie truce has enveloped the Great Colombian Drug War. To fend off the government's relentless assault on his empire, Medellin cartel boss Pablo Escobar Gaviria seems to have forsaken bombs and gun battles in the streets, which have killed more than 1,000 people in the past 15 months, and opted instead for high-profile kidnappings and negotiations. Since August, Escobar's mob has been holding seven journalists -- including Hoy X Hoy magazine editor Diana Turbay, the daughter of a former President -- and threatening to kill them unless a peace deal can be worked out. In the past year authorities have gunned down several Escobar associates, and the drug lord has twice narrowly escaped capture.

Last week the cartel said hundreds of its members might actually surrender and accept a government offer not to extradite them to the U.S. if authorities came up with additional guarantees. The administration of President Cesar Gaviria Trujillo expressed interest in the latest message. Government pressure on the cartel's cocaine-refining labs has reduced output 15% to 25% from a year ago, forcing the drug empire to move some refineries to Peru, Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela. Still, more than 700 tons of refined cocaine flow out of Colombia annually.

Mexico. The disruption of cocaine-smuggling routes through Panama as a result of last December's U.S. invasion and stepped-up U.S. surveillance of the Caribbean basin and the Florida coast have sent the drug lords scrambling for their maps. Increasing quantities are being rerouted away from Miami to the U.S.-Mexico border. According to University of Miami professor Bruce Bagley, an expert on the drug trade, smuggling from Mexico now accounts for 70% of the coke that reaches the U.S.

Unlike his predecessor, Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado, Mexico's President Carlos Salinas de Gortari seems determined to crack down on the drug lords. In the past 21 months, federal judicial police have confiscated 80,000 kilos of cocaine, more than was seized during De la Madrid's entire six-year term. But the offensive could stall. Last month Salinas announced the resignation of his drug czar, Javier Coello Trejo. Reason: alleged human-rights abuses by police, including murders.

Bolivia and Peru. The coca cash cow continues to feed the economies of both countries, providing peasant farmers with a lucrative crop. Bolivia obtains more than a third of its $1.2 billion in foreign exchange from cocaine, while Peru gets about a quarter of its $4 billion. Although both nations would like to cease their dependence on cocaine, they dare not press too strongly for fear of provoking civil unrest. In Bolivia the use of U.S. troops in 1986 to destroy drug labs sparked violent protests. Peru's new President, Alberto Fujimori, fearful of pushing recruits into the arms of the Shining Path guerrillas, has hesitated to unleash the full force of the military in interdiction efforts. Both countries prefer to tackle the coke problem economically by encouraging farmers to grow other crops.

Central America. With Mexico now the chief entry point for U.S.-bound cocaine, the entire region is being crisscrossed with routes for ferrying the drug northward. Smuggling is up sharply in Guatemala, whose remote mountains and vast jungles provide concealment for traffickers along the 540-mile border with Mexico. This year Guatemalan authorities have confiscated 2.5 tons of coke, a fivefold increase from two years ago. Police believe Panamanian traffickers are trying to relocate and turn Guatemala into a "golden bridge for their goods."

Costa Rica's remote airstrips, meanwhile, are increasingly being used for plane-refueling stops, prompting plans to build a $20 million U.S.-funded radar station on the country's Pacific Coast. And in Panama the effort to shut down money-laundering operations has met with limited success. American- installed President Guillermo Endara is resisting U.S. pressure to lift some bank secrecy laws for fear of damaging the industry.

With reporting by Cathy Booth/Miami and John Moody/Bogota