While military pressure has been exerted in all coca-producing nations at different times, the military defeat of guerrilla organizations, such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, or the Sendero Luminoso, hasn't halted the cocaine mafias' operations and ability to adapt to narcotics-control efforts because the goals of the cartels and the guerrillas are intrinsically different. (Cocaine: The New Front Lines," Review, Jan. 14).

While Plan Colombia has brought much-needed security to that country by halting the FARC's terrorism, kidnappings and extortion, it hasn't defeated the cartels, associated paramilitary groups and their corrupting influence over Colombia. Plan Colombia and other narcotics-control programs implemented since 1972 have been unable to address the endemic corruption that pervades the region, as well as the economic factors that drive coca production.

William L. Marcy IV

Buffalo, N.Y.