Excerpt: Bush Budget Includes $731 Million for Andean Counterdrug Initiative

09 April 2001

Excerpt: Bush Budget Includes $731 Million for Andean Counterdrug Initiative

ACI designed to sustain and expand on Plan Colombia programs

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
Alternative Development/Institution Building 208,000 - 146,500

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

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

Ecuador Total 21,200 2,200 39,000
Interdiction 13,200 2,200 19,000
Alternative 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 Includes $156 million for countries covered by ACI in FY2002.

2 Includes $154 million for countries covered by ACI in FY2002.

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

(end excerpt)