U.S. WILL RECONSIDER POLICY ON BOLIVIAN COCA-LEAF CROP

WASHINGTON - In a major concession to new Bolivian President Evo
Morales, the Bush administration has agreed to reconsider its
counterdrug programs in the South American nation, and is even
hinting it could allow more coca farming.

Concerned that more coca could mean more cocaine, Washington has so
far balked at easing Bolivia's 30,000-acre limit on legal production
of coca, the raw ingredient for cocaine. The cap is bitterly opposed
by many poor Bolivian farmers who helped elect Morales to the presidency.

Thomas Shannon, assistant secretary of state for the Western
Hemisphere, said a European Union study of the potential legal coca
market will help determine if there is room for more coca plantations.

"We think that based on current legal limits, based on what the
European Union study is going to come up with, it will be possible
for us to have a conversation, a dialogue with Bolivia about what a
legal harvest could be," he told Knight Ridder in an interview last week.

The dialogue is the latest step of the Bush administration's
courtship of Morales, who repeatedly called Washington an imperialist
power when he campaigned for office and flaunted his friendships with
Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Shannon met with the Bolivian leader for one hour Jan. 21, a day
before he was sworn in. President Bush called Morales on Feb. 1 to
wish him well. Morales has invited Bush to visit La Paz and asked
Washington to lower its trade barriers.

Testifying before a House panel Thursday, Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice said, "We've tried to leave an opening there to work
with Bolivia," although she cautioned that statements about coca
production were "problematic."

Privately, U.S. officials say Morales has toned down his attacks on
Bush after he embarked on a worldwide tour last month that included
Spain, France and other nations that urged Morales to work with Washington.

Wednesday, Morales asked coca growers to accept U.S. drug agents in
the country, saying that foreign operations should be welcome if they
respected Bolivia's laws.

"We need integration, international multilateral relations, relations
that respect dignity and sovereignty, basically to find solutions for
the people of each country," he was quoted as saying by the Agence
France-Presse news agency.

The officials worry, however, that Chavez may try to use his
influence in Bolivia to derail Washington's charm offensive, and that
the coca issue may cast a heavy shadow over the relationship. The
United States is Bolivia's biggest donor, providing La Paz about $80
million a year to combat drug trafficking.