POWELL OUTLINES COLOMBIA ANTIDRUG FUNDS

The Bush administration has asked Congress for $731 million to finance the
campaign against drugs in Colombia and neighboring countries in 2002,
Secretary of State Colin Powell said. The request, submitted to the Senate
Budget Committee, includes $399 million for Colombia, $156 million for
Peru, $101 million for Bolivia and a combined $75 million for Colombia's
four other neighbors -- Brazil, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela. The total
amount is similar to that allocated this year, including aid for Bogota's
drug-fighting Plan Colombia, but the money is less concentrated on
Colombia, reflecting the Bush administration's new regional approach to the
drug problem. For the fiscal years 2000 and 2001, the State Department
allocated $1.02 billion to Plan Colombia. The U.S. also gave Colombia's
neighbors smaller amounts of aid to fight cocaine. Bolivia, the largest
recipient, received $110 million. The shift to a regional approach reflects
complaints from Colombia's neighbors that a crackdown on production of coca
in Colombia would probably push the problem over the border.