ANTI-DRUG LEADERS PRAISE COOPERATION, DECRY LACK OF U.S. AID

In a day of contrasts in the war on drugs, leaders from 34 nations in
the hemisphere trumpeted new cooperation and trust Friday while U.S.
drug czar Barry McCaffrey bemoaned the lack of commitment in Congress
to long-term aid to Latin America.

McCaffrey said it was ``extremely bad news'' that Congress and the
Clinton administration had not agreed to devote significant aid to the
region and, specifically, to Colombia. A foreign aid bill containing
about $20 million for the region -- far below administration proposals
- -- passed the House Friday and may be approved in the Senate next week.

And GOP leaders on Capitol Hill and administration officials are still
maneuvering over an emergency aid package for Colombia of at least $1
billion for three years. But Congress may finish its session next week
and not take up that proposal until at least January.

``Were not going in the right direction, and this is going to hurt the
national security of our country,'' said McCaffrey, who blamed ``the
poisonous atmosphere'' on Capitol Hill.

A New Light

McCaffrey spoke at the end of a three-day conference, cosponsored by
the Organization of American States, that brought together anti-drug
officials from the hemisphere, Europe and the United Nations to
discuss common strategies in fighting drugs.

``We have made great progress in strengthening the quality of
cooperation in this effort,'' said Cesar Gaviria, OAS secretary
general and a former president of Colombia, after the last session
Friday.

Gaviria and McCaffrey noted that leaders in the hemisphere are seeing
the drug war in a new light, not just as Latin America producing
narcotics for U.S. consumers. Consumption rates throughout the region
are going up.

``In Caracas, Rio de Janeiro and Lima its an atrocious problem, they
are just overwhelmed by it,'' McCaffrey said.

``There may be more drug crime in Rio than there is in
Miami.''

Campaign Criticism

Earlier this week, a group of former leaders in the region criticized
the ``militarization'' of the anti-drug campaign.

Violeta Chamorro of Nicaragua, Oscar Arias of Costa Rica, Belisario
Betancur of Colombia and several others called for more efforts to
reduce consumption and improve treatment and education.

Participants in the conference emphasized that they are focusing on
those priorities, but also expressed discouragement that more U.S. aid
has not come out of Congress.

On a related issue, McCaffrey said he saw no reason to add Cuba to an
official U.S. list of transit countries involved in the drug trade --
a move sought by House GOP leaders.

He called the issue ``an unhelpful and sterile debate'' and said that
Cuban officials appear to want to cooperate in anti-drug efforts.

Two members of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington attended at
least one of the sessions of the conference, but did not participate.
OAS officials said that even though Cuba's membership in OAS was
suspended in the 1960s, the officials had diplomatic standing to be
present.