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.