Date: 1989-07-20
Speaker: DE LUGO (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. last week. some three dozen people were arrested by Federal agents in connection with traffickifg heroin and cocaine in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands of Palau. Among the dozen or so arrested in Palau were two former members of Palaus Congress who had been close to foimer Palau President Lazarus Salll. These arrests vindicate positions that I and other members of the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee have taken regarding drug abuse in Palau. They support the findings of our investigation that Palaus drug abuse problem is serious and that some Palauan officials were allegedly involved. The arrests also respond to our repeated calls for the Federal Government to live up to its responsibility to combat drug abuse in Palau. Perhaps most important. they justify our insistence that Palau be given help to tackle this serious problem through the legislation to give final U.S. approval to the Compact of Free Association with Palau. The new Secretary of the Interior. our former colleague Manuel Lujan. deserves credit for helping to end the policy of inaction on Federal law enforcement responsibilities in Palau. Palaus new President. Ngiratkel Etpison. and police should also be recognized for their cooperation with the crackdown. It was carried out by Drug Enforcement Administration. Customs Service. and Immigration and Naturalization Services agents. Coast Guard personnel. and Guam police and customs officers. all of whom deserve recognition as well. Let me provide some background to help Members understand the significance of the operation and how it relates to concerns we have expressed and legislation we have acted upon. Last year. Chairman UDALL and I said that one of our concerns about the legislation proposed by President Reagan to authorize the compact to be put into effect related to high rates of drug abuse in Palau and allegations that some high officials were involved with the trafficking. We said that this problem should be investigated and acted upon by the administration. In part. this was because the United States is responsible for ti14024 preventing narcotics trafficking in Palau under the trusteeship agreement with the United Nations Security Council. The executive branch is fully responsible for Palau under law. a respopsibility that has been delegated to the Interior Department. In part. we called for action bacause the trafficking was smuggling dangerous drugs into U.S. territory. We also said that the final approval of the compact should assure that this problem would be tackled. Our position In this regard was supported by a majority of Palaus Congress. Our concern was based on information developed through an investigation by the Insular and International Affairs Subcommittee. which I am privileged to chair. The drug abuse component of this Investigation was prompted by allegations made by leaders of Palaus Congress. In response to an inquiry we made in 1987. we were told by the then AdminIstrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration that the number of the 15.000 people of Palau that had used heroin may run into the hundreds. that marijuana is grown freely In Palau. and that local authorities could not prevent this abuse. This report was corroborated by a World Health Organization report that heroin. which had first entered Palau only 5 years before. had been used by over a hundred Palauans. by published reports quoting Palauan officials as saying that drug abuse was the islands greatest social problem and that marijuana trafficking was substantial. as well as by statements by diverse Palauan sources. Many of these statements also identified the two then Palauan legislators close to then President Saill as being among those involved. The concern that Chaiman UDALL and I. and members of Palaus Congress. expressed was strongly criticized by officials of the Reagan administration and persons close to Salil. They resisted ou* efforts for Federal action end our proposals for addressing this problem through the compact legislation. They asserted that the problem was not so serious and not a Federal responsibility. They objected to us raising this matter In connection with the compact legislation and rejected the notion that senior Palauan officials were involved. After President Salil committed suicide last August Saliis successor united with the majority of Palaus Congress In expressing concerns similar to those we had expressed. Later. after failing to force us to approve the compact legislation without addressing drug abuse and other problems. the Reagan administration finally agreed to our proposals for the help that Palau needed to tackle these problems. This assistance. included in the compact legislation which repassed the House on June 27. would provide Palau with $400.000 per year for 5 years and technical assistance for substance abuse prevention and treatment and other law enforcement. House Joint Resolution 175 would also ensure that Federal law enforcement agents can do their Job in Palau in cooperation with Palauan authorities. As I said at the outset. last weeks arrests justify our fight. and that of courageous leaders in Palaus Congress like Senate President Joshua Koshiba and former House Speaker Santos Olikong. for a war against drug abuse in Palau. A State Department cable makes it clear that in spite of what we were told by officials of the last administration. DEA agents were investigating Palauan drug rings since at least the time that we raised the issue.