COLOMBIAN COCA FIELDS 'DESTROYED'

The army blows up another drug laboratory Colombia has destroyed nearly a
quarter of the country's coca crop in two months of aerial fumigation, the
country's army says.

The United States is backing the army efforts to wipe out the crops of
coca, the raw material used to make cocaine.

But while the army claimed on Thursday that the programme has been an
unqualified success, local farmers complain that legal crops have been
destroyed along with the coca fields.

There are also concerns that spraying herbicide from helicopters is causing
health problems, particularly among children.

And the army has not yet directed its eradication efforts on areas held by
the country's powerful left-wing guerrillas, who oppose the plan.

Army Deployed Against Drugs

Anti-drug fumigation began on 19 December, with 2,000 Colombian army
personnel beginning the operation in the Putumayo region.

The region, on the southern border with Ecuador, is the country's
coca-growing heartland.

The US has contributed $1.3bn to Plan Colombia, a massive reform programme
for the country that includes a renewed attack on drug trafficking.

Colombia produces two-thirds of the world's cocaine, according to US
satellite data from 1999.

But Colombians who oppose the anti-drug programme say the US must control
the demand for cocaine at home, rather than trying to destroy the source
abroad.

The European Union has refused to back Plan Colombia, despite requests from
President Andres Pastrana.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - known as the FARC - oppose US
involvement in Colombia's anti-drug efforts.

The powerful left-wing guerrilla group also objects to aerial spraying,
saying coca eradication should be done by hand.

And human rights groups say that because the programme does not offer
subsistence farmers any alternative to growing coca, it will force them to
clear virgin forest land to try to continue producing the crop.