MCCAFFREY TO VISIT LATIN COUNTRIES TO ASSESS ANTI-DRUG EFFORTS

Washington -- National Drug Control Policy Director Barry McCaffrey will
visit South America July 26-30 to assess progress in hemispheric efforts to
stop the illicit drug trade, the White House announced.

The five-day tour will include stops in Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and
Curacao. McCaffrey will confer not only with the national leaders but also
law enforcement and crime prevention officials "in an effort to strengthen
regional and bilateral counterdrug cooperation," said a July 22 press
release from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

McCaffrey told reporters recently that he wants to "assess first-hand the
serious drug problem throughout the region." Colombia is the main source of
illegal drugs that enter the United States, especially cocaine. About 80
percent of trafficked cocaine originates in or goes through that country.
And Bogota's ability to curtail drug production is threatened by heavily
armed insurgents, backed by drug cartel money, who control about 40 percent
of the rural countryside, he said.

"The Colombian situation is an emergency" requiring strong U.S. support,
declared McCaffrey. Colombian coca and poppy production threaten not only
the U.S. strategy of eradicating crops and seizing shipments, but also
endanger Colombia's democratic institutions, he asserted.

Ecuador also is a transit country for cocaine grown in Colombia and
destined for Europe and North America. About 100 metric tons of cocaine
cross Ecuador each year, he said.

Venezuela and Curacao also serve the cartels as transit countries, he added.

McCaffrey said that in all the countries he will visit, domestic demand for
illicit drugs has risen and trafficking has expanded.

Over the last three years drug control programs in the Andean region have
cut cocaine production by nearly 30 percent. But despite vigorous law
enforcement efforts, cultivation and production are again increasing. "We
want to heighten joint efforts throughout the region in countering the
production of narcotics," said McCaffrey.

"Supply reduction is an essential component of a well-balanced strategic
approach to drug control. Demand reduction cannot be successful without
limiting drug availability," he argued.

"We recognize that the lines demarcating source, transit, and consuming
nations have become blurred as drug abuse and drug-related social damage
become a shared problem. Critical to our ability to meet these emerging
challenges is the establishment of counterdrug operational facilities" to
stop the drugs before they are harvested or transported, he said.

Such facilities, known as Forward Operating Locations (FOLs), are sites
from which the United States can launch aerial detection and monitoring
missions.

During his trip, McCaffrey will assess whether FOLSs can be set up in
Manta, Ecuador, and the island of Curacao.