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
.