THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary
                    (Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts)

________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                     August 4, 2000

                                FACT SHEET

        Presidential Decision Directive on the Colombia Initiative:
                  Increased U.S. Assistance for Colombia

Colombia is enduring difficult, mutually reinforcing social, economic 
and security challenges, with serious implications for U.S. national 
security and humanitarian interests.  The President has directed, as a 
matter of national priority, an increased U.S. Government effort to 
support the creation or enhancement of Colombian host-nation 
capabilities essential to the successful implementation of Plan 
Colombia.

Plan Colombia is President Pastrana's comprehensive and balanced 
response to Colombia's interrelated challenges.  In addition to
targeting the critical drug trafficking problem, the integrated strategy 
addresses human rights, democratization, judicial reform, social 
development, the economy, and the peace process.

Colombia's lawlessness, corruption, and long internal conflict are
exacerbated by the immense profits generated by the drug trade.  Ninety
percent of the cocaine supplied to the United States originates in or
passes through Colombia, as does two-thirds of the heroin seized in this
country.  As a result, Colombia has become the central focus of the
United States' Western Hemisphere efforts to reduce the supply of 
illicit drugs.

Domestic drug abuse costs the United States society an estimated 52,000
lives and $110 billion annually.  In Colombia, pervasive violence has 
cost an estimated 35,000 lives in the past fifteen years and displaced 
more than 700,000 people in the past three years alone.  According to 
some estimates, there are as many as 1.4 million internally displaced
persons in Colombia, the fourth largest such crisis in the world and
the largest in the Western Hemisphere.  Colombia is also a dangerous 
working environment for American government officials and private 
citizens, with homicide and kidnapping rates among the highest in the
world.  In addition, regional security is increasingly strained by the
spillover of drug trafficking, insurgent and paramilitary activities 
into neighboring countries.

This Administration has been actively pursuing a comprehensive and
balanced strategy to help Colombia fight the drug trade, institute
judicial reform, promote the rule of law, enhance respect for human
rights, assist the internally displaced, expand economic development,
and foster peace.  With today's announcement, the Administration is 
intensifying that coordinated effort at a critical juncture in the 
fight against illicit drug production both in Colombia and throughout 
the Andean region.

In support of the Colombia initiative, Congress recently approved an
Administration request for a substantial increase in assistance for 
Plan Colombia implementation.  The $1.3 billion package also provides
increased assistance for other countries in the region, primarily to 
consolidate counterdrug gains in the major Andean drug-producing
countries and to ensure that successful law enforcement efforts in 
Colombia do not simply drive illicit drug cultivation and production 
into neighboring countries.

The additional U.S. assistance for Colombia will target:

--    Boosting democratic governing capacity and respect for human 
rights throughout Colombia through programs that will provide human
rights training to the military, strengthen human rights monitoring and
enforcement, promote the rule of law and expand access to justice;

--    Increasing the capability of the Colombian National Police, in
conjunction with Colombian Armed Forces, to curtail the cultivation and
production of illicit drugs in Colombia;

--    Increasing the drug interdiction capabilities of both the 
Colombian National Police and the Colombian Armed Forces;

--    Promoting a broader based macro-economic recovery, including 
through economic reform and incentives to create new jobs and lawful 
economic activity throughout Colombia.

Our increased support for the Colombian National Police and Armed
Forces will continue to be focused on the common counter-drug objective. 
As a matter of Administration policy, the United States will not support
Colombian counterinsurgency efforts.  The United States will, however,
provide support, in accordance with existing authorities and this 
policy, to the Government of Colombia for force protection and for 
security directly related to counterdrug efforts, regardless of the 
source of the threat.  The Administration remains convinced that the
ultimate solution to Colombia's long-standing civil conflict is through
a successful peace process.

Increased U.S. assistance for Colombia will support important programs
that strengthen human rights monitoring and enforcement throughout 
Colombia and that provide human rights training to Colombian security 
forces.  In addition, U.S. assistance will be restricted to only those
police and military units that are carefully vetted with respect to 
allegations of human rights abuses.

The classified Presidential Decision Directive establishes the 
coordination framework and assigns key agency roles and responsibilities
for enhancing the U.S. effort to assist President Pastrana and the
Colombian people in implementing their national strategy.  This 
broad-scope support will entail significant efforts by many agencies 
throughout the U.S. government, including the Departments of State, 
Defense, Justice, and the Treasury, as well as the Agency for 
International Development, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the
Office of National Drug Control Policy.

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