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DATE=10/6/1999 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=COLOMBIA DRUGS (L ONLY) NUMBER=2-254738 BYLINE=JON TKACH DATELINE=WASHINGTON INTERNET=YES CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: The Clinton administration has expressed support for a Senate initiative for more U-S involvement in the fight against drug trafficking in Colombia. Analysts told a Senate hearing (Wednesday) that the South American nation is losing its long war against the drug cartels and the leftist guerrillas that support them. V-O-A's Jon Tkach [kotch] reports. TEXT: General Barry McCaffrey - the White House drug control policy chief - says Colombia is the source of more than 80 percent of the cocaine in the United States. He says despite eradication efforts, Colombia has become an "emergency situation." /// MCCAFFREY ACT /// Coca production in Colombia is skyrocketing, the rough numbers are probably a doubling or greater of coca cultivation in the last four years. /// END ACT /// Human rights groups and U-S legislators have expressed concern that aid to the Colombian government will be used to fund military divisions and rightist paramilitary groups that have been accused of human rights abuses. But, Republican Senator Paul Coverdell, whose bill would increase drug-fighting assistance, says steps have have been, and will continue to be, to ensure that human rights are protected. Senator Coverdell says the added support is needed to help avert a potential national security threat to the United States. /// COVERDELL ACT /// If this hemisphere were to accept a government driven by narcotics, it will destabilize the entire region. /// END ACT /// Senator Coverdell's plan calls for up to one-and-a- half-billion dollars in aid over the next three years to expand drug interdiction, protect human rights, and induce Colombian farmers to plant alternative crops. The United States is already giving Colombia 300- million dollars of anti-drug aid per year. NEB/JON/ENE/gm 06-Oct-1999 17:10 PM EDT (06-Oct-1999 2110 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .