U.S. official says anti-drug plan for Colombia will take time to show results

February 22, 2000
Web posted at: 11:16 p.m. EST (0416 GMT)

In this story: Plan aimed at countering drug-financed insurgency Drug production on the rise RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. President Bill Clinton's $1.6 billion plan to help Colombia in its narcotics-eradication program will take two to five years to produce results, says the U.S. undersecretary for political affairs.

"We should begin to see some serious results in two to five years," Thomas Pickering told reporters Tuesday. He cautioned that expecting results before then "is to be too optimistic."

Pickering recently returned from a South American trip in which he visited Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Brazil.

"I believe that the plan will work, but I believe it will take time," he said. "It will take a lot of effort for the Colombians ... to prepare the military protection required for the police to carry out the eradication" of coca plants.

COLOMBIAN AID Where the money would go

The two-year, $1.6 billion plan is seen as an intensified effort in the Colombian drug war that involves more than just eradicating coca plants and giving farmers incentives to grow other crops.

It involves dealing with a well-organized and entrenched insurgency -- financed by the drug trade -- that has fought the Colombian government for about 35 years.

About 75 percent of the $1.6 billion will pay for military hardware, including 30 Blackhawk helicopters, and for pilot training. The rest of the money goes for law enforcement and economic assistance.

Meanwhile, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, White House drug control chief, disclosed at a Senate hearing Tuesday that about 80 percent of illegal drugs in the United States come from or pass through Colombia.

Illegal drugs caused about 52,000 deaths and cost $110 billion in health care, crime and lost productivity in the United States, he said.

McCaffrey was testifying at the hearing before heading to Colombia for talks on the U.S. aid plan.

Opium poppy cultivation rose by 23 percent in Colombia last year, he added. "If left unchecked, the rapid expansion of drug production in Colombia threatens to significantly increase the global supply of cocaine and heroin," he said.

Pickering added that coca production in Colombia has increased by about one-fifth, with more productive varieties of coca being planted and the manufacturing process becoming more efficient.

"So overall production in tonnage has gone up from 400 and some to 526 tons of cocaine over the year," Pickering said.

CNN's Brad Wright and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Colombia drug production hits 'emergency' levels, U.S. says
February 15, 2000

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