State Department Washington File excerpt from budget request, April 9, 2001

State Department Washington File excerpt from budget request, April 9, 2001
09 April 2001
Excerpt: Bush Budget Includes $731 Million for Andean Counterdrug Initiative
(ACI designed to sustain and expand on Plan Colombia programs) (780)

President Bush's proposed international affairs budget for fiscal year 2002 includes $731 million for the Andean Counterdrug Initiative (ACI), designed to sustain programs funded by the $1,300 million Plan Colombia assistance package approved last July.

According to budget documents released by the administration April 9, ACI will triple the share of U.S. counternarcotics assistance going to countries other than Colombia, and will increase to 40 percent the amount of International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (INCLE) funds slated for social and economic programs in the region.

Of the total ACI budget request, $399 million would go to Colombia, $156 million to Peru, $101 million to Bolivia, $39 million to Ecuador, $15 million to Brazil, $10 million for Venezuela, and $11 million to Panama.

"Combined with Plan Colombia, ACI will make a significant, immediate impact on the flow of narcotics out of the Andes," according to a State Department summary of the president's international affairs budget. The Bush administration's performance goals specifically include: achieving a 30-percent reduction in Colombian coca production between January 2000 and December 2002; and eliminating all illicit coca production in Bolivia by the end of 2002.

The following excerpt from the State Department's summary of the FY2002 budget request outlines the projected spending for the ACI:

(begin excerpt)

Andean Counterdrug Initiative (ACI):

-- As part of an overall Andean regional initiative, the FY 2002 request includes $731 million for ACI, a multi-year counterdrug assistance effort designed to sustain and expand programs funded by the Plan Colombia emergency supplemental.

-- ACI differs from Plan Colombia in several respects. ACI triples -- to 45 percent -- the share of counter-narcotics assistance going to countries other than Colombia. ACI increases to 40 percent the amount of INCLE funding going to social and economic programs, exclusive of other economic assistance accounts. Finally, ACI funding will be augmented from other accounts to support reforms directed toward strengthening democracy and economic growth.

FY 2002 funding for ACI includes:

(BA in millions of dollars)

                                 Alternative Development
Country           Interdiction   Institution Building        Total
Colombia             252                 147                399
Peru                  77                  79                156
Bolivia               54                  47                101
Ecuador               19                  20                 39
Brazil                15                   -                 15 (1)
Venezuela             10                   -                 10 (1)
Panama                11                   -                 11 (1)
Total                438                  293                731

-- Combined with Plan Colombia, ACI will make a significant, immediate impact on the flow of narcotics out of the Andes. The Administration's performance goals specifically include: (1) achieving a 30 percent reduction in Colombian coca production between CY 2000 and the end of CY 2002; and (2) eliminating all illicit coca production in Bolivia by the end of CY 2002.

-- ACI will support Colombia's push into the former coca-growing sanctuaries in Putumayo by backing joint operations between the Amy's new, air mobile counternarcotics (CN) brigade and the Colombian National Police's anti-narcotics unit (DIF-AIST). It will also support alternative development and assistance to internally displaced persons, maritime and aerial interdiction, the Colombian National Police's aerial eradication program with additional spray aircraft, and human rights and judicial reform in Colombia.

-- Additional support for the Andean regional initiative is being provided through Economic Support Funds and Foreign Military Financing. Development Assistance and Child Survival and Diseases accounts will also support this initiative.

International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement

  ($ in thousands)

                                         FY 2000   FY 2001   FY 2002
                                         Actual    Estimate  Request

NARCOTICS PROGRAMS
Country/Regional Programs
Andean Counterdrug Initiative: /1

Colombia Total                            894,429   48,000   399,000
   Interdiction                           686,429   48,000   252,500
   Alt. Development/Institution Building  208,000     -      146,500

Peru Total                                 80,000   48,000   156,000
   Interdiction                            55,000   21,000    77,000
   Alt. Development/Institution Building   25,000   27,000    79,000

Bolivia Total                             158,000   52,000   101,000
   Interdiction                            57,000   35,000    54,000
   Alt. Development/Institution Building  101,000   17,000    47,000

Ecuador Total                              21,200    2,200    39,000
   Interdiction                            13,200    2,200    19,000
   Alt. Development/Institution Building    8,000     -       20,000

Brazil                                      5,000    2,000    15,000
Venezuela                                   4,200    1,200    10,000
Panama                                      4,987    1,000    11,000
Latin America Andean Regional               7,000     -         -

Subtotal, Andean Counterdrug Initiative 1,174,816  154,400   731,000

Other Western Hemisphere:

Bahamas                                     1,000     1,200    1,200
Guatemala                                   3,000     3,000    4,000
Jamaica                                       800     1,200    1,550
Mexico                                      4,071    10,000   12,000
Latin America Regional                      7,806     7,957   12,500

Subtotal, Western Hemisphere               16,677    23,357   31,250

Asia/Middle East Regional                   4,798     3,328     7050
East Asia and the Pacific:                  7,000     7,200    8,200
Laos                                        4,000     4,200    4,200
Thailand                                    3,000     3,000    4,000

1 Primarily for interdiction, although also available for
institutional development, to the extent feasible.