COCA OUTPUT FALLS AGAIN IN PERU

WASHINGTON -- (AP) -- Surprising U.S. anti-drug officials, coca production
continued to fall in Peru last year, CIA data released Monday showed.

Cultivation fell 12 percent last year, according to statistics released by
the White House drug policy office. It was the fifth consecutive year of
declines in the Andean country that once was the world's leading producer
of coca, the substance from which cocaine is made. Officials had been
bracing for an increase of up to 15 percent.

The new figures were 84,500 acres, compared with 95,600 acres in 1999.

Peru's coca cultivation reached 319,000 acres in 1992 but began to fall
after then-President Alberto Fujimori ordered his military to shoot down
suspected drug planes. Coca production shifted into Colombia and Peru's
coca prices dropped, making communities more willing to participate in
eradication programs.

Prices rebounded last year, and U.S. officials suspected Peruvians might
return to their coca crops, especially since a dispute over the use of U.S.
helicopters led to suspension of the eradication program.

The production decline is unlikely to have much of an effect on cocaine
supplies. Decreases in Peru and Bolivia, where coca cultivation fell 33
percent in 2000, have been offset by Colombian production.

Peruvian production is considered significant because of the United States'
$1.3 billion Colombian anti-drug package put into effect last year. As
U.S.-trained soldiers fight Colombian guerrillas who protect coca fields
and cocaine laboratories, officials want to prevent production from
shifting into neighboring countries.