$1 BILLION IN ANTI-DRUG AID PROPOSED

Washington-Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey is proposing $1 billion in emergency
counter-drug aid that will focus on Andean countries, saying Friday that
Colombia faces a "near-crisis" situation.

Growing military clashes threaten Colombia's democracy and are "fueled in
large part by the production of cocaine and heroin," McCaffrey said Friday.

Republican leaders in Congress also are readying their own emergency aid
package for counterdrug efforts in the region. The United States now spends
about $250 million on anti-drug aid in Colombia and less in other Andean
countries.

The proposal keeps U.S. aid focused on counterdrug efforts and not on
Colombia's fight against leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries.

But an ongoing debate on whether to provide counterinsurgency aid is "silly"
because of the pervasive role of drug trafficking in Colombian lawlessness,
McCaffrey said. "I would characterize the situation as a near-emergency," he
said.