BOLIVIA SEEKS U.S. HELP, NOT CRITICISM, ON DRUGS

LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - Bolivia, the world's No. 3 cocaine producer, on
Saturday rejected U.S. criticism that it was not doing enough to fight
illicit drugs and said what it needed instead was access to U.S. markets
for legal crops.

"We've reduced coca crops (the plant from which cocaine is extracted) by
more than 90 percent ... and we'll continue controls, but the task won't be
completed without access to markets and opportunities for legal crops and
products," President Jorge Quiroga told reporters in Lima.

He was due to meet visiting President Bush and other Andean leaders later
to discuss renewing a deal to give a range of goods from Peru, Colombia,
Bolivia and Ecuador free access to the United States to help the anti-drugs
fight in a region that produces almost all the world's cocaine.

Quiroga last week hit back at U.S. criticism of his policy, saying no
country had done a better job of eliminating drugs over the last five
years. A U.S. report issued earlier this month alleged the government had
been reluctant to close 15 illegal markets and that there had been massive
replanting of coca since 2001 in the subtropical Chapare region.

The report said Bolivia's coca eradication program "had difficulties" since
Quiroga, a Texas-educated engineer, took office last August from the ailing
Hugo Banzer.

But Quiroga called the U.S. criticism "unacceptable and wrong" and called
on the United States, the world's top drug consumer, to cut demand.
According to U.S. data, coca cultivation is soaring in Colombia, far and
away the world's top producer, while in Peru, the second largest producer,
new crops are being planted as fast as old ones are eradicated.

"The important thing is not to get into a debate about the past, but about
markets and opportunities for the future," Quiroga said. "This is the
central theme of this meeting."