Colombia Seen Weakening Its Judiciary : War on drugs: U.S. policy chief Martinez says lawmakers may bar extraditions and undo anonymity of judges in trafficking cases.

WASHINGTON — Bob Martinez, director of the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, said Thursday he fears that Colombia’s National Assembly might go beyond barring extradition of drug kingpins to the United States and interfere with development of a strong, independent judiciary in the country.

Martinez returned Monday from a five-nation tour of drug-producing and transshipping countries. All indications are that Colombia’s National Constituent Assembly is “on its way to stopping extradition by making it unconstitutional,” he said in an interview.

Equally troubling, Martinez said, is that the Assembly--which will complete writing a new constitution by July 4--is discussing pardoning drug traffickers and doing away with the “faceless judge system,” under which the identity of judges assigned to drug cases is kept secret to provide them greater security.

In addition, the Assembly is discussing limiting the decree powers of President Cesar Gaviria--the authority that Colombian presidents have relied on in trying to counter the power of drug cartels, Martinez said.

“We have a lot of concern about what is going to come out of the Constituent Assembly,” he said. “A really weak judicial system is going to be demoralizing for law enforcement” in fighting the drug traffickers.

Martinez also found troubling the level of drug transshipping and money-laundering in Panama and the behind-schedule rate of coca-plant eradication in Bolivia. Peru and Mexico were the other stops on his first foreign tour since taking office two months ago.

Although Martinez pointed to “bright spots” in his meetings with the presidents and top anti-drug authorities in each of the countries, his grim assessment made clear that the strategy of cutting off drugs at their source is running into serious problems.

The “good news” from Colombia, Martinez said, is that the military and law enforcement there are doing “a good job of interdiction” of illicit drugs and that Gaviria “is committed to continuing to free the country of drug traffickers.”

But Martinez said that until a new legal system is implemented--free of the corruption and intimidation by drug criminals that have plagued Colombia--extradition for trial in the United States should remain as a real threat to the cartel leaders.

“It would assist in implementing the new legal system,” said Martinez. Without the threat of extradition, drug traffickers would be free to attack the new legal system, he explained.

Martinez was told by Colombian officials that the nation’s public is convinced that the reason for continued violence is that extradition remains a possibility, a view that he disputes. “I don’t think narco-traffickers will alter their violence in the absence of extradition,” he said.

But the discussion of the question in the Constituent Assembly and the country is very one-sided because of fear of reprisals against those who would support extradition, Martinez said, adding: “There isn’t really an honest debate.”

Martinez said he could not assess claims that drug trafficking and money-laundering in Panama now surpass the level under deposed dictator Manuel A. Noriega because he has no “base line” for comparison.

But there is “a lot of activity--money-laundering, transshipping and probably stash houses,” Martinez said. “We have enough information to know it (the illegal activity) is high.”

He said he told Panamanian authorities that they are in “a very perilous condition” because their dollars are tied to American currency, making them easy to launder, and because Panama borders Colombia, meaning that drugs can be brought into the country by air, water or land.

Martinez urged Panama’s officials to adopt a pending mutual legal assistance treaty with the United States, which would help combat drug trafficking and money-laundering, and to adopt banking commission rules to facilitate tracking illicit funds.