DATE=10/6/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=COLOMBIA DRUGS (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-254738
BYLINE=JON TKACH
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The Clinton administration has expressed
support for a Senate initiative for more U-S
involvement in the fight against drug trafficking in
Colombia. Analysts told a Senate hearing (Wednesday)
that the South American nation is losing its long war
against the drug cartels and the leftist guerrillas
that support them. V-O-A's Jon Tkach [kotch] reports.
TEXT: General Barry McCaffrey - the White House drug
control policy chief - says Colombia is the source of
more than 80 percent of the cocaine in the United
States. He says despite eradication efforts, Colombia
has become an "emergency situation."
/// MCCAFFREY ACT ///
Coca production in Colombia is skyrocketing, the
rough numbers are probably a doubling or greater
of coca cultivation in the last four years.
/// END ACT ///
Human rights groups and U-S legislators have expressed
concern that aid to the Colombian government will be
used to fund military divisions and rightist
paramilitary groups that have been accused of human
rights abuses.
But, Republican Senator Paul Coverdell, whose bill
would increase drug-fighting assistance, says steps
have have been, and will continue to be, to ensure
that human rights are protected.
Senator Coverdell says the added support is needed to
help avert a potential national security threat to the
United States.
/// COVERDELL ACT ///
If this hemisphere were to accept a government
driven by narcotics, it will destabilize the
entire region.
/// END ACT ///
Senator Coverdell's plan calls for up to one-and-a-
half-billion dollars in aid over the next three years
to expand drug interdiction, protect human rights, and
induce Colombian farmers to plant alternative crops.
The United States is already giving Colombia 300-
million dollars of anti-drug aid per year.
NEB/JON/ENE/gm
06-Oct-1999 17:10 PM EDT (06-Oct-1999 2110 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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