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DATE=1/14/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=ALBRIGHT / COLOMBIA (L ONLY) NUMBER=258054 BYLINE=KYLE KING DATELINE=STATE DEPARTMENT CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright travels to (is traveling to) Colombia Friday for talks on a massive U-S aid proposal aimed at fighting drug traffickers. From the State Department, V-O-A's Kyle King reports. TEXT: Secretary of State Albright is the highest ranking U-S official to visit Colombia since President George Bush made a stop there in 1990. Analysts say her visit signifies the seriousness with which the Clinton administration views Colombia's problem with narcotics and an ongoing Marxist rebellion. Her visit comes just days after President Clinton announced he would ask Congress for a one-point-six billion dollar aid package for Colombia. Most of the money would be used to fund special military anti-drug units. State Department spokesman James Rubin say the aid will be the focus of the secretary's talks with President Andres Pastrana and other officials in the Port city of Cartagena. /// Rubin Act /// First she will be letting them know how we see our support for their plan unfolding and what the specifics of our package are. And she will then be seeking from them information about what their detailed plans are for the timing, and how some of the details of their (anti-drug) plan for Colombia will unfold. /// End Act /// President Pastrana has not yet said exactly how he will spend the U-S aid if it is approved by Congress. But it is expected to be a key element of his plan to end the country's three-decade-old civil war, combat drug smugglers and stabilize the economy. Experts say Colombia supplies about 80 percent of the World's cocaine and output has doubled over the past four years. But some critics of the U-S aid program say the heavy emphasis on military assistance could risk dragging the United States into Colombia's long running guerilla war. (signed) NEB/KBK/JP/KL 14-Jan-2000 09:28 AM EDT (14-Jan-2000 1428 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .