COCA SPRAYING WAR PAYS OFF

BOGOTA, Colombia - The United Nations said on Wednesday that
American-financed aerial eradication of Colombia's vast coca fields is
starting to pay big dividends, releasing new estimates that show the size of
the crop dropping by 32 percent in the first seven months of the year.

Production of coca -- the main ingredient in cocaine -- is increasing
slightly in Peru and Bolivia. But the sizable reduction in Colombia's crop
means that for the first time overall coca production in the Andes is
dropping at a rapid pace. The new estimates from the U.N. Drug Control
Program show that coca fields in Colombia fell from 251,940 acres in
December to 170,430 acres on July 31. At this rate, the United Nations said,
Colombia's coca crop will be reduced 50 percent by the end of the year.

"The reduction is heavy, and it seems as if it's accelerating," said Klaus
Nyholm, who as chief of the U.N. antidrug efforts oversaw the study. He
announced the results on Wednesday afternoon along with Colombia's interior
minister, Fernando Londono.

Colombian troops trained by U.S. Special Forces and flying aboard U.S.-
provided Black Hawk helicopters provide security for the spray planes, which
are often fired at by rebels who along with the right-wing paramilitary foes
control much of Colombia's cocaine production.

Much of the spraying has been in southern Colombia's Putumayo state. A
fumigation offensive is now beginning in eastern Colombia's Catatumbo
region, near the Venezuelan border.

The U.S. Congress is debating whether to provide another $700 million in aid
to Colombia, on top of $2.5 billion Washington has spent since 2000 to
eradicate coca and undercut the financing source for Colombia's insurgent
groups.

Human rights groups frequently criticize President Alvaro Uribe's
government, and some American congressmen have questioned the effectiveness
of U.S. aid. The new data, though, are sure to encourage supporters of
eradication. "Many people who thought this couldn't be done in the past are
having to rethink their assumptions," John Walters, the White House drug
policy chief, said by phone from Washington.

The United States, which does its own study of Colombia's drug crops, first
started to register a decline in Colombian coca production last year. But
the findings were tempered by discrepancies in American data, and a
corresponding rise in coca cultivation in Peru and Bolivia.

The figures released on Wednesday, the first time Nyholm's office has
presented half-year figures, are based on satellite imagery and
calculations. His office also releases an annual census, which found
Colombia's drug crop dropped by 30 percent from December 2001 to December
2002. The U.S. figures showed a much smaller drop, 15 percent, during the
same period.

Despite the differences, Colombian and U.N. officials said the latest
estimates show that Uribe's aggressive stance on drugs -- one long sought by
American policy-makers -- is paying off across the region. Unlike his
predecessors, Uribe has in his 13 months in office allowed American planners
to use spray planes whenever and wherever they see fit.

Londono also attributed the decline in coca production to a fall in cocaine
consumption in the United States. According to the Department of Health and
Human Services, the number of occasional users fell from 6 million in 1988
to 3 million in 2000.

Nyholm, however, said that while coca has been decimated in the coca-
growing heartland of southern Colombia, coca fields have cropped up in other
regions and along Colombia's isolated borders. If eradication efforts are to
show long-term benefits, he said, it is essential to also offer coca farmers
viable options.

"The question is whether this will be sustainable," Nyholm said.

Information from The Associated Press was used to supplement this report.