DROP IN COCA PRODUCTION HAILED, BUT COCAINE PLANT THRIVES ELSEWHERE

WASHINGTON - U.S. officials yesterday hailed an "astonishing" drop in coca
cultivation in Peru and Bolivia, although they conceded that plantings of
the illicit crop were skyrocketing in Colombia.

Over the past three years, Peru has seen a 56 percent drop in cultivation
of coca, the raw material used to make cocaine, according to U.S. data.
Coca cultivation has dropped 22 percent in Bolivia over the same period,
with most coming in the past year.

The progress speaks to the importance of strong political leadership in the
drug fight, said drug czar Barry McCaffrey.

Peruvian and Bolivian leaders made the drug fight a priority and deserve
credit for the "absolutely astonishing" fall in coca fields, he said. "They
believe it serves their own national interest."

The unusual press conference also served as a coming-out of sorts for the
CIA, whose analysts have long monitored aspects of the drug trade but
generally remained behind the scenes. A top CIA official was available to
answer reporters' questions about the counter-drug data in what he said was
a change in agency attitude.

"Why not come out and explain that the agency is involved in constructively
supporting this effort?" said Gerry Komisar, director of the CIA's Crime
and Narcotics Center.

McCaffrey held the press conference without data from the entire Andean
region, which produces most of the cocaine and perhaps most of the heroin
consumed in the United States.

Officials said data for Colombia, which analysts say is growing more coca
and opium poppies, will be available sometime next month.

Critics of the administration's counter-drug efforts say drug cartels
simply have moved production to Colombia, where civil strife and official
corruption stymie counter-drug efforts.

"Clearly, coca production in Colombia is skyrocketing," McCaffrey said.

Colombian President Andres Pastrana took office Aug. 7, also pledging to
cut cocaine production.

"There's a lot to be learned by Colombia's government from Peru and
Bolivia," McCaffrey said.

He particularly cited Bolivia, where the U.S. government had spent more
than $1 billion in a decade with no drop in cultivation. Then-President
Hugo Banzer took office in early 1997 and launched a new campaign against
coca production in Bolivia, long a top producer of the illicit crop.