U.S. PRESSES BOGOTA TO STIFFEN DRUG FIGHT

BOGOTA, Colombia, Nov. 20 -- The Clinton administration's top anti-drug
official, Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, has come to Colombia to reiterate
American support for Colombia's effort to curtail coca production.

General McCaffrey is viewed as a leading architect of the $1.1 billion
American aid package for Colombia, part of President Andres Pastrana's plan
to try to halve coca cultivation and thus weaken rebel forces that benefit
from the drug trade.

But some question whether the government will be able to make progress
against the guerrillas.

General McCaffrey acknowledges that rebels are likely to defend the coca
fields. But he said Colombia now has the technical know-how, the equipment
and the political will to make inroads in the fight against the traffickers
and the rebels.

"What are we supposed to do?" asked General McCaffrey, who led the
delegation with Thomas R. Pickering, under secretary of state for political
affairs. "Ignore a democracy that is a three-hour flight from Miami, that's
in huge trouble? And it's in huge trouble because of criminal organizations
that are international in scope and fueled by money coming out of the
United States and Western Europe. All of us have a responsibility to help."

General McCaffrey, in a speech today at the Foreign Ministry, cited the
sharp drop in coca production in Bolivia and Peru during his tenure and
successful efforts in the United States in cutting teenagers' drug use.