NEW YORK (AP) Colombian President Ernesto Samper, whose rocky
relationship with Washington came under new strain last week, zealously
defended his government's war on drugs Friday, saying the industrialized
world isn't doing its fair share.

Samper who traveled to New York on a special diplomatic visa because
the Clinton administration revoked his tourist visa vowed to push a
bill through his country's congress making it possible to extradite drug
kingpins to the United States.

Last week the Colombian senate approved such a bill, but included a
clause so that it would not be retroactive meaning jailed cartel
leaders such as brothers Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela would be
immune. The move infuriated U.S. officials.

Samper said he hopes to amend the legislation as it passes through the
legislature's lower house.

``We are going to insist that congress eliminate the clause about no
retroactivity,'' Samper said at a news conference at New York's Plaza
Hotel, a day after addressing the U.N. General Assembly. ``We are going
to do it because we are convinced that no Colombian can use his own
country as a shield of impunity.''

Colombia's constitution prohibits extradition, but Samper, after being
accused of soliciting millions of dollars in campaign funds from the
Cali drug cartel, has been working to overturn the ban.

On Friday, he laid out his government's successes in the drug war,
including:

the eradication of thousands of acres of drugproducing crops;

the arrests of more than 7,500 accused drug traffickers;

the firing of some 6,200 corrupt policemen;

the approval of new laws stiffening prison sentences and making it
easier to seize traffickers' illgotten assets.

``The Medellin cartel and the Cali cartel, which at one point supplied
80 percent of the world's cocaine, at this moment are completely
destroyed,'' Samper said.

When told the U.S. government disputes some of his figures saying
production of the coca leaf actually increased in 1996, for instance
he responded angrily.

``We are used to the fact that some sectors in Washington won't
acknowledge our successes,'' he said.

Saying that ``Colombia cannot solve the world drug scourge by itself,''
he urged the world's rich countries to reduce consumption, halt the sale
of chemicals used to make narcotics, and attack money laundering.

A loyalist Congress absolved Samper of any wrongdoing in the
campaignfunding scandal, despite damning testimony from senior campaign
officials. But the scandal has taken a heavy toll on his presidency,
which ends next year.

Critics say Samper's political woes, his refusal to step down and the
strained relations with Washington have contributed to a weakened
economy and a revitalized war by leftist rebels.

At the news conference, Samper denied Colombia was in bad shape. ``The
country is still on its feet,'' he said.