BOLIVIA HOPES AID LEVELS STAY SAME

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hoping to maintain anti-narcotics cooperation with
Bolivia, the administration pledged Tuesday to work with Congress to avoid
a proposed 75 percent reduction in assistance to that cocaine-producing
country.

Bolivia is facing an aid reduction of $34 million -- to $12 million total
- -- but key players in the administration, Congress and the Bolivian
government seemed confident assistance flows would remain largely unchanged.

Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug policy adviser, joined Bolivian
Vice President Jorge Quiroga at a news conference and praised the Bolivian
government's commitment to rid the country of all illicit coca by the year
2002.

Noting that the administration wants roughly $45 million for anti-narcotics
assistance for Bolivia, McCaffrey said, ``I am confident that we can make
the case to both houses that that's the level of support that they need.''

Quiroga, who has been meeting with administration and congressional leaders
this week, said the proposed aid cut was the result of congressional moves
aimed at increasing counter-narcotics assistance to Colombia at Bolivia's
expense.

Rather than accept a token $12 million program, Quiroga had said on Monday
that his government would reject all such aid unless the proposed cut is
not made. He declined to repeat that position during the news conference.

While McCaffrey was careful not to be critical of the Congress, the
chairman of the House International Relations Committee, Rep. Benjamin
Gilman, R-N.Y., accused the administration of mishandling the whole issue.

He said in a statement that the administration attempted to ``take funds
from Bolivia to pay for police training in Bosnia and (make) Congress the
scapegoat.''

He suggested Congress would be amenable to giving Bolivia its fair share.

``We support full funding for all countries which are working with us and
doing their share to combat the scourge of narcotics,'' Gilman said.

Quiroga, who was educated at Texas A&M and speaks fluent English, also
seemed optimistic that the cuts will be restored. He said the aid process
was in the midst of a ``short-term hiccup.''

If the cuts are not restored, he said, ``it would be very damaging to the
U.S.-Bolivian partnership in this effort.''

According to a State Department report issued last week, Bolivia produces
over a quarter of the world's coca leaf and about 30 percent of its cocaine
supply. Narcotics-related arrests increased sharply last year, and while
more than 17,000 acres of coca leaf were eradicated, more than 13,500 acres
of new coca were planted, the report said.