Pubdate: Tue, 08 Feb 2005 Source: Miami Herald (FL) Copyright: 2005 The Miami Herald Contact: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262 Website: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/ Author: Pablo Bachelet Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Colombia Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Plan+Colombia Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Andean+Counterdrug+Initiative Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/bush.htm (George Bush) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) Bush Wants Spending on Colombia Drug War Altered Little President Bush Proposed an Almost-Unchanged Allocation of $550 Million As Continuation of Antidrug Plan Colombia. WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is proposing to keep military counter-drug aid to Colombia almost unchanged in the next fiscal year despite calls by some members of Congress to spend more on social programs, according to its budget request released Monday. Bush is asking Congress to allot $550 million to combat drugs in Colombia in fiscal 2006, with the military and police receiving more than $393 million -- about $10 million less than in fiscal 2005, a State Department official said. Nonmilitary programs would receive only "very tepid" increases, he added. For instance, funding for programs to help coca farmers switch to other crops would rise by just $100,000, to $125 million. Latin America analysts awaited the administration's request with interest, because Plan Colombia, the broad counter-drug program under which Washington has pumped more than $3 billion into Colombia since 2000, is due to expire Sept. 30. But changing the program's balance of military and social components would risk undercutting some of the recent military gains made by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, a close Bush ally, said the State Department official, who requested anonymity. "The intent is indeed to change the focus as the military phase achieves success. We are achieving success but we're not there yet." In a statement with the budget request, the White House said it is "committed to rolling back the drug trade." Signs of advances in Colombia's drug war include record eradications of coca plantations through aerial spraying, greater military and police presence throughout Colombia and the extradition to the United States of nearly 150 people suspected of drug trafficking, the statement said. Although Plan Colombia, launched in 2000 by Presidents Clinton and Andrs Pastrana, enjoys bipartisan support, the Bush administration budget request may still face a tough battle in Congress. Republicans will look for cutbacks in spending "across the board," said Adam Isacson, a Plan Colombia watcher with the Washington-based Center for International Policy. "Democrats are going to try to increase the social components somewhat, but they don't have a lot of options to influence the agenda," he said. In August 2004, House members on appropriations panels recommended reducing money for Plan Colombia and for other Andean nations. In 2002 Plan Colombia was folded into the Andean Counterdrug Initiative, which covers the whole region. Bush proposed $735 million for the Andean Counterdrug Initiative in fiscal 2006, $4 million more than 2005. Unlike Plan Colombia, the Andean Counterdrug Initiative has no expiration date. Some lawmakers also want Bogot to focus more on fighting opium poppy crops and to take over the management of more of the U.S. antidrug programs. Although cocaine use is believed to be dropping, Colombia supplies the vast majority of the heroin sold in the eastern United States. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake