BOLIVIA HOPES US DRUGS APPROVAL MEANS MORE CASH

LA PAZ - Bolivia's government said on
Friday it hoped the United States' renewal of its approval of the
fight against drugs will translate into more cash to continue efforts
to eradicate drug smuggling and production.

Along with fellow Latin American countries Mexico, Colombia and Peru,
Bolivia was certified by the U.S. Friday for doing its utmost in
fighting drugs.

"The government hopes that the successes obtained by Bolivia, in this
effort, will now translate into larger economic help within the shared
responsibility of the anti-drug fight," Mauro Bertero, President Hugo
Banzer's spokesman, said in a statement.

The U.S. said it approved of Bolivia's efforts because of the sharp
drop in the country's coca leaf crop, which fell by 17 percent to
93,896 acres (38,000 hectares) last year. Bolivia is the world's
second largest producer of coca leaf and the third largest producer of
cocaine paste, which is later purified and sold.

Banzer told Reuters in an interview in January that: "We are going to
continue at this pace and we are going to meet our promise to
eradicate drug trafficking in Bolivia." He promised his country would
drop out of the international drug circuit by the end of his term in
2002.

Bertero repeated that on Friday, saying Banzer's government will work
to reach the 2002 target "without any pause."

In Latin America, only Paraguay was decertified but penalties were
waived because of U.S. national interests.