DATE=5/10/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-S/COLOMBIA (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-262210
BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE
DATELINE=STATE DEPARTMENT
CONTENT=


INTRO:  The Clinton Administration is criticizing the 
failure of Congress to approve its full request of 
nearly two billion dollars to train and equip 
Colombia's army to help it better fight the flow of 
illegal drugs.   Correspondent Nick Simeone reports a 
top administration official travels to Colombia 
Thursday for more discussions on a program whose 
effectiveness is being questioned by some in Congress.     

TEXT:   Before leaving Washington, Under Secretary of 
State Thomas Pickering told reporters such shortfalls 
and delays by Congress are hurting U-S efforts to help 
Colombia, where civil war and narcotics production are 
intertwined.     

            // PICKERING ACT //

      Both the delay in time and the inability, if I        
      could put it this way, to optimize the equipment        
      that's now available to the task, will represent        
      a significant handicap for the forces that have        
      to carry forward the effort.  


             // END ACT //

Lawmakers have cut 200 million dollars from the White 
House request for Colombia, already the third largest 
recipient of U-S aid.  Nor have they approved an 
administration request for sophisticated "Blackhawk" 
military helicopters -- capable of flying faster and 
at higher altitudes.

Ninety percent of the cocaine reaching the United 
States originates in Colombia.   But both Democrats 
and Republicans in Congress are wary of getting 
dragged into a bloody civil war where the Colombian 
government is fighting not only drug traffickers but 
leftist guerrillas and right-wing militias. 

Still, the Clinton Administration is pressing ahead 
,labeling the situation a crisis. 

            // SECOND PICKERING ACT //

      The drug trade is currently protected by both 
      the left-wing FARC guerrilla organization and 
      now increasingly by the right wing extremist 
      paramilitaries.   Both are in fact deriving 
      enormous incomes. 


            // END ACT //

This will be Ambassador Pickering's 3rd visit to 
Colombia in nine months to discuss a plan involving 
not only eradicating drugs, but helping the government 
of President Andres Pastrana in peace talks with 
rebels and in re-taking areas of the country that have 
fallen to rival forces.  (SIGNED)


NEB/NJS/PT

 



10-May-2000 19:53 PM EDT (10-May-2000 2353 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.