ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, February 27, 1996             TAG: 9602270097
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: B-6  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: CHIA, COLOMBIA
SOURCE: Associated Press

TRADE TARIFFS WOULD BE NO BED OF ROSES

COLOMBIAN FLOWER GROWERS wait for the United States to decide whether to slap an import tax on their product, which could spell the end of their economic survival.

The people whose greenhouses yield a year-round supply of cut flowers for the U.S. market fear they may soon fall victim to the war on drugs.

On Friday, President Clinton will announce whether the United States will penalize Colombia for its shortcomings in combating drug-related corruption. If he does, he could impose import tariffs on the roses, chrysanthemums and carnations grown on this rich savanna outside Bogota.

The flower growers - like many other Colombian producers of legal exports - are afraid.

``We are a serious and reliable sector, and the moment you put us at risk you endanger the security of this part of the country,'' said Angela Orozco, general manager of the Association of Colombian Flower Exporters.

With President Ernesto Samper formally accused of using millions in Cali drug cartel cash to win the election, no one expects Colombia to gain the full stamp of trade approval, known as certification.

Colombia wasn't among the 18 drug-producing or transit countries certified last year; but like six other nations, it was saved from losing U.S. aid by a national security waiver.

Without the waiver, the United States would have been legally obliged to cut some aid and to vote against Colombia in international lending institutions, putting the Latin American country in a league with Burma, Iran, Nigeria, Syria and Afghanistan.

Punitive action by Clinton could also include lifting trade preferences, though no U.S. president has done this as a result of the annual certification process since it began a decade ago.

Even so, many Colombian producers are fearful.

Some U.S. lawmakers are urging punishment unless Colombia seizes the assets of Cali cartel leaders jailed last year and ensures that they don't leave prison until they are old men.

U.S. officials think the Cali bosses continue to run their cocaine and heroin syndicate from Bogota's high-security Picota prison, from which one of them escaped last month, presumably after bribing guards.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, proposed legislation Feb. 6 that would cut aid to Colombia unless it truly punishes the drug lords. Grassley said there was ``sufficient reason to believe [U.S.] assistance is going to known or suspected drug traffickers or their confederates.''

Meanwhile, Colombian trade groups are flooding Washington with lobbyists to urge against decertifying Colombia. Groups such as the Trade Council and the Flower Exporters say decertification would only hurt legitimate business and discourage the people in Colombia who are fighting the drug trade.

``We want to create an awareness of the potential repercussions of economic sanctions, that they would make the country more susceptible to violence and more susceptible to illicit activities,'' said Orozco, whose growers export more than $300 million worth of flowers to the United States each year, providing a livelihood for 120,000 families.

Rose-grower Guillermo Leon said lifting trade preferences ``would be like a fatal stab'' to his 35-acre farm, which employs 170 people, most at just over the minimum wage of $150 a month.

``This phenomenon [the drug trade] has occurred in all Latin America. Mexico, for example, has a lot more corruption than us. Yet it has a free-trade pact with the United States,'' Leon said.

Colombia's foreign trade minister, Morris Harf, travels to Washington this week to lobby U.S. officials. He said the United States must be patient as Colombia works to rid itself of drug corruption.

``It's a process that has arrived at its most crucial juncture now, but that has been fermenting 20 years,'' Harf said in an interview. ``Dismantling it can't be accomplished overnight.''

LENGTH: Medium:   80 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  AP. A greenhouse worker in Bogota chooses roses for 
          export. Colombia ships more than $300 million worth of flowers to 
          the United States every year, and the industry is afraid President 
          Clinton will impose tariffs because Colombia is seen as not doing 
          enough to stop drug trade. color