UNITED NATIONS, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe called on Wednesday for more decisive cooperation to stamp out the global drug trade, warning that people who use narcotics are responsible for causing violence. "Whoever buys a personal dose of illicit drugs, helps to set off a car bomb in Colombia," Uribe told the U.N. General Assembly. "To help free us from the horrors of drug trafficking, terrorism and poverty, we need to count on a more decisive help from the international community." Uribe, an ally of the United States, has received billions of dollars in U.S. aid to fight cocaine traffickers and left-wing rebels, who have been weakened, but are still fighting Latin America's oldest guerrilla war. Violence has declined sharply under Uribe's government, which has sent troops to retake areas once under the control of armed groups. But the country is still the world's No. 1 cocaine producer, turning out around 600 tonnes a year. Uribe acknowledged Colombia's coca leaf cultivation remained high despite years of fumigation and eradication efforts backed by the United States. But he urged other countries to share responsibility in erasing consumption. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, has lost several guerrillas commanders this year and government forces rescued high-profile hostages, Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans. But the rebels remain a force in rural areas helped by finances from cocaine trafficking.
A Colombian woman tries to pass a barricade on a border bridge between Colombia and Venezuela near Cucuta city, September 23, 2008. Merchants from both countries are protesting against what they ...
