U.S. ENVOY CONFUSES COFFEE WITH COCAINE

Colombians Displeased By Greeting Gaffe

BOGOTA (Reuters) - An embarrassing slip of the tongue by U.S. Ambassador
Curtis Kamman has left a bitter taste in Colombian mouths.

While giving a lecture on U.S.-Colombia relations Thursday at a local
university, Kamman referred to "Juan Valdez with his mule carrying
cocaine," Bogota's El Tiempo reports.

Valdez, the happy-go-lucky albeit fictitious peasant, is the beloved symbol
of Colombia's National Coffee Growers' Federation and one of the world's
best known trademarks.

The red-faced U.S. envoy sought to backtrack for his lapse, saying "Coffee,
I meant to say coffee," the daily said. Colombia takes great pride in its
coffee industry, and ranks as the world's second largest producer behind
Brazil.

It is also estimated to produce 80 per cent of the world's cocaine and is a
leading supplier of heroin to the United States, which ranks as one of the
world's leading consumers of illicit drugs.

In an embarrassing drug-scandal that sent Kamman's embassy reeling three
months ago, the wife of the man who headed U.S. military anti-drug
operations in Colombia was accused of smuggling about seven kilograms of
cocaine into the United States.