COLOMBIAN CROP ERADICATION PROGRAM FAILS TO STOP DRUGS

BOGOTA, Colombia -- The aerial crop-spraying program favored by the
United States to reduce Colombian cocaine and heroin production has
failed, the new environment minister said in an interview published
yesterday.

"The cultivated areas have increased, which demonstrates that fumigation
hasn't worked," Juan Mayr, a renowned conservationist, was quoted by
Bogota's El Tiempo newspaper as saying.

Currently, the herbicide glyphosate is used in the spraying. U.S.
officials favor changing to the more toxic tebuthiuron because it is
granular, can be dropped from higher altitudes and dissolves less
readily.

Last year, a record 160 square miles of coca were sprayed but coca
cultivation nevertheless increased to 307 square miles, according to the
United States.

President Andres Pastrana, who took office Aug. 7, has said he prefers
an alternative to eradication. He is seeking international funding for
programs to encourage poor coca and opium farmers to switch to legal,
but less lucrative crops.

President Clinton said in a letter to Pastrana last week that he would
support those efforts. But American officials insist eradication remains
the central element of U.S. anti-narcotics policy in Colombia -- the
producer of 80 percent of the cocaine sold in the United States and a
growing share of the heroin.

Checked-by: willtoo