Excerpts from State Department Daily Briefing, June 4, 2001

Excerpts from State Department Daily Briefing, June 4, 2001
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
Richard Boucher, Spokesman
Washington, DC
June 4, 2001

Q Do you have any comment of the -- between -- I mean regarding to the exchange of prisoners in Colombia between the government and the FARC? And second of all, there's an article from the St. Petersburg's Times last Friday talking about the concerns of the U.S. about the stop of the spraying of coca crops in Colombia.

MR. BOUCHER: I'm sorry, the St. Petersburg Times I didn't read. I'm not quite sure what you're asking about in that.

Q Yeah. The article says that there is concerns in the U.S. government about the decision of Colombia to stop the spraying of coca crops, the fumigation.

MR. BOUCHER: That's something I'd have to look at. I'm not aware of anything new or different in that regard. In terms of the agreement that was reached over the weekend by the government and the FARC, the revolutionary armed forces of Colombia, this was a humanitarian accord and we would welcome it. It has to do with the exchange of prisoners, many of whom seem to be in precarious health. We hope that this limited achievement would provide some momentum for the peace talks that can translate into real and substantive achievements that would reduce the level of violence that daily confronts the people of Colombia.

As far as more details about the agreement itself and how it intends to be implemented, that's obviously something that the government of Colombia would deal with and not us.