COLOMBIA SAYS HUGE AREAS OF COCA LEAF DESTROYED

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - Colombia has destroyed 72,000 acres of the raw
material used to produce cocaine -- a significant proportion of world
capacity -- since the U.S.-backed ``Plan Colombia'' began in December, the
army said on Thursday.

The army figures indicate that fumigation and manual eradication teams have
dealt a heavy blow to cocaine production in Colombia -- which the latest
data showed had 295,000 acres cultivated with coca leaf in 1999.

``On top of the results, the first military operations of Plan Colombia
have the positive aspect of being carried out without any incident to date
with any farmers or settlers in the region,'' the army said in a news release.

Colombia produces two-thirds of the world's cocaine, according to U.S.
satellite data from 1999 -- when smugglers in the Andean country provided
users with an estimated 486 tons of the illegal white powder.

Critics of the Plan Colombia say the $1 billion in mostly military aid from
Washington could end up dragging the United States into a civil war, now in
its 37th year. Both leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries draw
significant funds from the cultivation and sale of coca.

Some 35,000 civilians have been killed in the last decade of conflict alone.

The U.S. money is paying for helicopters and training for Colombian
personnel, but no Americans will take part in field operations.

Colombia's armed forces sent 2,000 men to begin its eradication program on
Dec. 19 in the steamy Putumayo region on the country's border with Ecuador
- -- an area thick with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
guerrillas and their outlaw paramilitary foes.

Army Says Plan Colombia A Great Success

``Two months later, even though only 18 UH-1HN Bell helicopters have
entered Colombia out of the 80 which make up part of the American military
aid, the results of the anti-narcotics fight in this part of the country
are more than satisfactory,'' the army said.

Army squads destroyed 49 cocaine laboratories in ``Operation Decameron'' in
the Putumayo -- an area which produces about half of Colombia's cocaine, it
said.

In January, human rights groups called on the U.S. government to block what
remained of its military aid to ``Plan Colombia'' -- accusing the Colombian
military of failing to break its ties with the paramilitaries.

The 17,000-member FARC on Wednesday returned to peace talks after a
three-month break after President Andres Pastrana repeated assurances of a
crackdown on the paramilitaries.

FARC leaders say they agree that coca leaf -- a traditional stimulant when
chewed in Andean countries -- should be eradicated, but say it must be done
by hand. The leftist rebels strongly oppose U.S. military involvement.

Plan Colombia also proposes billions of dollars for social programs and
crop substitution programs to help coca growers switch to alternative crops
including palms for oil and palm hearts.

While the United States has come up with cash to train anti-narcotics
agents and pay for helicopters, European countries have so far disappointed
Colombian hopes that they would provide money to pay for crop substitution
programs.