The World - News from April 22, 1987

The United States and Guatemala began a major anti-drug operation, sending U.S. airplanes over a remote northern jungle region in El Peten province to spray a herbicide that is said to kill only marijuana without damaging other vegetation. “We hope that with the help of the United States, we can deal a severe blow to the drug trafficking business,” Guatemala’s Treasury Police Chief Oscar Diaz Urquizu said of the operation, which is being coordinated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. He said the operation marked the first time such a “drastic and severe operation” had been carried out on Guatemalan marijuana patches.