•HRES 398 IH
Whereas based on the most recent data of the Drug Enforce-
ment Administration (DEA), more than 60 percent of the
heroin seized in the United States originates in Colombia;
Whereas the Colombian National Police is led by the legend-
ary and incorruptible Director General Jose Serrano, who
has dedicated his life to fighting drugs;
Whereas the elite anti-narcotics unit of the Colombian Na-
tional Police (‘‘DANTI’’), under the direction of Colonel
Leonardo Gallego, is one of the best and most effective
anti-narcotics police forces in the region and the world;
Whereas in the last 10 years more than 4,000 officers of the
Colombian National Police have died fighting the scourge
of drugs;
Whereas in one recent year alone, according to data of the
United States Government, the United States had
141,000 new heroin users and the United States faces
historic levels of heroin use among teenagers between the
ages of 12 and 17;
Whereas once Colombian heroin is in the stream of commerce
it is nearly impossible to interdict because it is concealed
and trafficked in very small quantities;
Whereas heroin does not require the traditional large quan-
tities of precursor chemicals and large laboratories to
produce and therefore there are fewer opportunities to
disrupt its production and distribution;
Whereas the best and most cost efficient method of prevent-
ing Colombian heroin from entering the United States is
to destroy the opium poppies in the high Andes moun-
tains where Colombian heroin is produced;
Whereas the elite anti-narcotics unit of the Colombian Na-
tional Police has the responsibility to eradicate both coca
•HRES 398 IH
and opium in Colombia, including the reduction and
elimination of cocaine and heroin production, and they
have done a remarkably effective job with the limited and
outdated equipment at their disposal;
Whereas more than 40 percent of the anti-narcotics oper-
ations of the Colombian National Police involve hostile
ground fire from narco-terrorists and 90 percent of such
operations involve the use of helicopters;
Whereas the need for better high performance helicopters by
the Colombian National Police, especially for use in the
high Andes mountains, is essential for more effective
eradication of opium in Colombia;
Whereas on December 23, 1997, one of the antiquated Viet-
nam-era UH–1H Huey helicopters used by the Colom-
bian National Police in an opium eradication mission
crashed in the high Andes mountains due to high winds
and because it was flying above the safety level rec-
ommended by the original manufacturer;
Whereas in the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and
Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1998 (Public Law
105–118), amounts were appropriated for the procure-
ment by the United States for the Colombian National
Police of three UH–60L Blackhawk utility helicopters
that can operate safely and more effectively at the high
altitudes of the Andes mountains where Colombian opium
grows at altitudes as high as 12,000 feet;
Whereas the Blackhawk helicopter is a high performance util-
ity helicopter that can perform at the high altitudes of
the Andes mountains, as well as survive crashes and sus-
tain ground fire, much better than any other utility heli-
•HRES 398 IH
copter now available to the Colombian National Police in
the war on drugs;
Whereas because the Vietnam-era Huey helicopters that the
United States has provided the Colombian National Po-
lice are outdated and have been developing numerous
stress cracks, a sufficient number should be upgraded to
Huey IIs, and the remainder should be phased-out as
soon as possible;
Whereas these Huey helicopters are much older than most of
the pilots who fly them, do not have the range due to lim-
ited fuel capacity to reach many of the expanding loca-
tions of the coca fields or cocaine labs in southern Colom-
bia, nor do they have the lift capacity to carry enough
armed officers to reach and secure the opium fields in the
high Andes mountains prior to eradication;
Whereas the elite anti-narcotics unit of the Colombian Na-
tional Police has a stellar record in promoting respect for
human rights and has received the seal of approval of a
leading international human rights group in their oper-
ations to reduce and eradicate illicit drugs in Colombia;
Whereas the Congress also would support assistance to the
Colombian military if the military demonstrates the will
to fight effectively while respecting civilian non-combat-
ants in the same way the anti-narcotics unit of the Co-
lombian National Police has;
Whereas the narco-terrorists of Colombia have announced
that they will now target United States citizens, particu-
larly those United States citizens working with their Co-
lombian counterparts in the fight against illicit drugs in
Colombia;
•HRES 398 IH
Whereas a leading commander of the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (‘‘FARC’’) announced recently that
the objective of these narco-terrorists, in light of recent
successes, will be ‘‘to defeat the Americans’’;
Whereas United States Government personnel in Colombia
occasionally fly in these helicopters with the Colombian
National Police on their missions are now at even greater
risk from these narco-terrorists and their drug trafficking
allies;
Whereas in the last six months four anti-narcotics helicopters
of the Colombian National Police have been downed in
operations;
Whereas the Congress intends to provide the necessary sup-
port and assistance to wage an effective war on illicit
drugs in Colombia and provide the equipment and assist-
ance needed to protect all of the men and women of the
Colombian National Police as well as those Americans
who work side by side with the Colombian National Po-
lice in this common struggle against illicit drugs; and
Whereas the Administration, in a letter to the Miami Herald
from the Office of National Drug Control Policy
(ONDCP) concerning the issue of anti-narcotics assist-
ance to Colombia, stated that the strategy of the ‘‘source
country’’, such as the strategy of Colombia, is the best
and most effective methods to fight the war on illicit
drugs: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That—
(1) the House of Representatives urges the
President to expeditiously procure and provide to the
Colombian 
National 
Police 
three 
UH–60L
•HRES 398 IH
Blackhawk utility helicopters solely for the purpose
of assisting the Colombian National Police to per-
form their responsibilities to reduce and eliminate
the production of illicit drugs in Colombia and the
trafficking of such illicit drugs, including the traf-
ficking of drugs such as heroin and cocaine to the
United States; and
(2) if the President determines that the pro-
curement and transfer to the Colombian National
Police of three UH–60L Blackhawk utility heli-
copters is not an adequate number of such heli-
copters to maintain operational feasibility and effec-
tiveness of the Colombian National Police, then the
President should promptly inform the Congress as to
the appropriate number of additional UH–60L
Blackhawk utility helicopters for the Colombian Na-
tional Police so that amounts can be authorized for
the procurement and transfer of such additional heli-
copters.
Æ