SAMPER: COLOMBIA EARNED SANCTION REPEAL FROM U.S.

President Ernesto Samper said a U.S. decision Thursday to withdraw
sanctions against Colombia was well-deserved recognition of the country's
drug-fighting efforts. But he said it was wrong to hold him responsible for
the sanctions being imposed in the first place.

Washington's decision to waive the 2-year-old sanctions was helped by the
impending departure of Samper, who has been tainted by a drug-corruption
scandal since his 1994 election.

"The decision adopted today does justice to the ... fight that we
Colombians have waged for some years against the international scourge" of
drug trafficking, Samper said.

Mexico reacted to the Clinton administration's decision to certify it as an
ally in the drug war by sharply criticizing the annual evaluation process
as unilateral and counterproductive.

The government said it would carry out a war on drugs regardless of U.S.
approval.