CUBA LEFT OFF DRUG LIST

WASHINGTON -- Rejecting appeals by House Republicans, President Clinton on
Wednesday declined to include Cuba on a list of countries used to ship
illegal drugs to the United States.

State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said an inter- agerncy assessment
concluded there was no cocaine detected transiting Cuban soil or ports on
the way to the United States during the first six months of 1999.

The list included 26 countries and territories-- two fewer than last year.
Aruba and Belize were dropped. All 26 countries on this year's list are
repeaters: Afghanistan, Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, China,
Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Hong Kong, India,
Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Taiwan,
Thailand, Venezuela and Vietnam.

Countries included on the list can be subject to economic penalties if they
are found not to be cooperating with U.S. counternarcotics efforts.