DATE=1/14/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ALBRIGHT / COLOMBIA (L ONLY)
NUMBER=258054
BYLINE=KYLE KING
DATELINE=STATE DEPARTMENT
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright travels
to (is traveling to) Colombia Friday for talks on a
massive U-S aid proposal aimed at fighting drug
traffickers. From the State Department, V-O-A's Kyle
King reports.
TEXT: Secretary of State Albright is the highest
ranking U-S official to visit Colombia since President
George Bush made a stop there in 1990.
Analysts say her visit signifies the seriousness with
which the Clinton administration views Colombia's
problem with narcotics and an ongoing Marxist
rebellion.
Her visit comes just days after President Clinton
announced he would ask Congress for a one-point-six
billion dollar aid package for Colombia. Most of the
money would be used to fund special military anti-drug
units.
State Department spokesman James Rubin say the aid
will be the focus of the secretary's talks with
President Andres Pastrana and other officials in the
Port city of Cartagena.
/// Rubin Act ///
First she will be letting them know how we see
our support for their plan unfolding and what
the specifics of our package are. And she will
then be seeking from them information about what
their detailed plans are for the timing, and how
some of the details of their (anti-drug) plan
for Colombia will unfold.
/// End Act ///
President Pastrana has not yet said exactly how he
will spend the U-S aid if it is approved by Congress.
But it is expected to be a key element of his plan to
end the country's three-decade-old civil war, combat
drug smugglers and stabilize the economy.
Experts say Colombia supplies about 80 percent of the
World's cocaine and output has doubled over the past
four years.
But some critics of the U-S aid program say the heavy
emphasis on military assistance could risk dragging
the United States into Colombia's long running
guerilla war. (signed)
NEB/KBK/JP/KL
14-Jan-2000 09:28 AM EDT (14-Jan-2000 1428 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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