DEA: Cocaine Production Grows

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) -- Bolivia and Peru are significantly cutting down on
cocaine production, but output of the illicit drug is increasing in
Colombia, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency said Tuesday.

Colombia is expected to produce 330 to 440 tons of pure cocaine this year,
compared to 220 tons last year, according to a written report prepared by
DEA agents in Bolivia.

Increased cocaine production is directly linked to greater acreage devoted
to growing coca leaf, the raw material for cocaine.

In Colombia, coca fields now cover 222, 000 acres of land, compared with 81,
000 acres in 1992.

Peru is expected to produce 192 tons of cocaine this year, compared to 264
tons in 1998 and 606 tons in 1992, the DEA said. Coca leaf cultivation has
dropped from 283, 000 acres to 85, 000 acres in 1999.

Bolivia produced 248 tons of cocaine in 1992. Last year, the figure dropped
to 77 tons and is expected to drop further to 55 tons this year, the DEA
said.

Bolivia' s coca acreage has dropped through a forceful eradication program,
dropping from 100, 000 acres a few years ago to less than half that today. A
record 35, 000 acres were eradicated last year alone.

The production of opium, from which heroin is produced, is also in the rise
in Colombia. The country has gone from zero production a decade ago to
becoming a major producer, much of it earmarked for U.S. markets.

Bolivian President Hugo Banzer has vowed to get all of Bolivia out of
illegal coca leaf growing and cocaine production before his five-year term
ends in 2002.

In Colombia, meanwhile, the United States is carrying out a program to
defeat Colombian drug traffickers by helping to train up to 3, 000 military
personnel and 500 police officers before the end of the year, U.S. officials
say.

President Clinton' s administration has announced a two-year, $1.6 billion
program to assist in the anti-drug fight and help Colombia in other ways.