WASHINGTON (AP) - Colombian President Andres Pastrana says his country can achieve a 50 percent reduction in the production of illicit narcotics over the next five years - if it receives outside help.
And today, Pastrana was getting a first hand account of whether and when Colombia can expect to receive the $1.6 billion in emergency assistance over two years that President Clinton has requested for that nation.
Pastrana was meeting with Senate Majority leader Trent Lott, who said Tuesday he supports the aid proposal for Colombia, but not the high-priced package of which it is a part.
He said costly amendments could run the overall cost well into double digits.
``I have a higher obligation to the taxpayers of America,'' Lott, R-Miss, said. Rather than deal with it as an emergency supplemental, Lott said he planned to attach the Colombia money to ``one of the early bills'' of the regular appropriations process to ensure Colombia gets the aid in a timely manner.
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Today, in a speech prepared for delivery to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Pastrana rejected the notion that the deepening U.S. involvement in Colombia could lead to an American commitment similar to that of Vietnam.
``That is flat out impossible,'' he said. ``Neither your public opinion nor ours would support or permit such a move - and neither your government nor ours has considered this in even the most extreme circumstances. It is simply not on the table, and as long as I am president it will not happen.''
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Pastrana, in an interview Tuesday with Associated Press editors and reporters, wants to move as quickly as possible so that he can field thousands of counternarcotics troops who are the key element in his struggle against the drug lords. They would receive U.S. training and equipment, under Clinton's proposal.
Implying that Colombia has not taken the issue seriously until now, Pastrana said, these troops ``are going to be involved in the real fight against narcotics.''
The payoff for the United States would be reduced illicit narcotics flows.
But some analysts are skeptical about whether halting narcotics trafficking is a realistic goal. They point to a doubling of cocaine production in Colombia since 1996 despite a massive increase in eradication efforts. Most of the cocaine winds up in U.S. markets.
Beyond that is the challenge for the United States of preventing drug shipments from entering U.S. territory in the first place. The nation has 13,000 miles of shoreline and 7,500 miles of border with Canada and Mexico, along with about 300 ports of entry.
But Pastrana believes that major inroads in combatting the drug trade can be made if his ambitious plans are supplemented with help from the United States and Europe.
He said he is hopeful that Europeans will pledge between $600 million to $800 million when they meet to discuss the Colombian situation in early July. Another source of optimism, he said, is that, for the first time, all branches of the Colombian military are involved in a coordinated campaign to confront the drug lords.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, with whom Pastrana met on Tuesday, agreed that Colombians have the primary responsibility in the drug war.
``Only Colombians can devise a solution for Colombia's ills, and President Pastrana has put forward a bold plan for doing just that,'' she said. ``It's urgent that we support him, not with the promise of help but its reality.''