Pubdate: Mon, 12 Mar 2001
Source: CNN (US Web)
Copyright: 2001 Cable News Network, Inc.
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Author: Elise Labott, CNN State Department Producer

BUSH ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES EXPANSION OF PLAN COLOMBIA

The Bush administration announced Monday it plans to expand Plan Colombia 
to include Colombia's neighbors in the Andes.

"You cannot deal with Colombia in isolation, as if it was the sole country 
in America or the Western Hemisphere," said William Brownfield, deputy 
assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs. "We need a 
more regional approach to address the issues, the crises that are emanating 
from Colombia today."

CNN reported last week that the administration plans to extend Plan 
Colombia to other Andean countries.

The original U.S. commitment to Plan Colombia for neighboring countries was 
$180 million. But a senior official told CNN last week that the 2002 budget 
President Bush will introduce to Congress next month will see a "major 
increase" in programs for Colombia's neighbors.

Government officials in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia have expressed concern 
that Colombian rebels will move their drug operations to their countries, 
and have asked for a more comprehensive approach to deal with Colombia's 
drug problem.

The neighboring economies are fragile, and poor people along the border 
could see the prospect of involvement in drug trade as an incentive to join 
the rebels.

U.S., Colombian and other Latin American officials told CNN that the 
administration has already solicited ideas from regional leaders about what 
programs are needed. Officials said the initiative will be "tailor made" to 
address problems unique to each county, while taking into account the 
"commonalties" endemic to the region.

Officials from the State Department, the United States Agency for 
International Development and Department of Justice laid out plans Monday 
to increase alternative development, strengthen democratic institutions and 
increase law enforcement programs in Colombia and neighboring countries to 
prevent any "spillover" that Plan Colombia might cause.

George Wachtenheim, director of the USAID mission in Colombia, said another 
focus of U.S. efforts will be a "social program" to address the "root 
causes" of drug cultivation.

A Colombian plane sprays poppy crops, the raw material of heroin, high in 
the Andes

U.S. programs will seek to create jobs for the unemployed, offer 
alternative crop development for farmers, improve human rights and ease the 
plight of Colombia's internally displaced people to limit emigration to 
neighboring countries.

Colombia has one of the largest numbers of displaced people of any country 
in the world, with more than one million.

U.S. officials said the Bush administration will be smart about the 
distribution of aid, and will ensure the United States is not stampeded by 
countries that might see it as a "cash cow."

A Colombian official said the best thing the United States could do to 
diminish drug trade from the Andes would be to increase trade in other 
products.

Bush has said he would press Congress to approve the Andean Trade 
Preference Act in the coming months.
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