U.S. DRUG CZAR HEADING OVERSEAS

Washington -(AP)- President Clinton's chief adviser on drug policy leaves
Monday for Mexico and Colombia to discuss anti-narcotics operations.

Announcement of the trip comes a day after the White House said Clinton will
go to Colombia on Aug. 30 for a one-day visit.

Barry McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy, known informally as the U.S. drug czar, will head a U.S. delegation
in Mexico City during two days of meetings about cooperation between the two
governments, McCaffrey's office said Saturday.

The Mexican side will include President Ernesto Zedillo and other top
Mexican officials as well as representatives of President-elect Vicente Fox,
according to McCaffrey's office.

McCaffrey also will travel to the Colombian port city of Cartagena for a
review Wednesday and Thursday of implementation of the $1.3 billion U.S. aid
project Plan Colombia, which Congress passed last month at Clinton's behest.

Subjects McCaffrey will discuss with President Andres Pastrana and others
include legal, economic and social development, according to the statement.

During Clinton's one-day visit to Cartagena, the president will discuss with
Pastrana the aid program and efforts to end the country's 36-year civil war.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) will
accompany the president.

Clinton said in a statement that it is ''profoundly in the interest of the
United States'' for Colombia to succeed in its efforts to seek peace, fight
illicit drugs, build its economy and protect democracy.

It will be Clinton's first trip to Colombia, and he will fly down and back
on the same day. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
an overnight stay was ruled out for security reasons.

ON THE WEB: State Department: http://www.state.gov/www/regions/wha/index.htm