The White House has sent a less-than-subtle message to Colombian authorities that they need to be doing more to address cocaine production in their territory. On Sept. 13, the White House released a memorandum disclosing the president's yearly determination of whether countries have cooperated with the United States on its counternarcotics policy or not. According to the statement, the White House indicated that it had considered decertifying Colombia as a partner in the war against drugs because of a sharp increase in cocaine production there, but did not. Decertification carries with it the possible penalty of being cut off from U.S. foreign assistance. While Colombia wasn't decertified, the White House's statement makes it clear that Washington would like to see more concrete actions from Bogota to contain the cocaine trade. Colombia's president responded defensively to the U.S. decertification threat, saying the country was already moving to decrease cocaine production....
