US Names 26 Countries as Major Drug

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Subject: US Names 26 Countries as Major Drug Producers

US Names 26 Countries as Major Drug Producers, Excludes Cuba

  
Washington, Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. named 26 countries in its annual
list of major drug producers and transit points for drug trade, excluding
Cuba in spite of the objections of some lawmakers. 

The list, signed by President Bill Clinton and sent to Congress, is almost
the same as in previous years, State Department spokesman James Rubin said.
Aruba and Belize were the only countries removed. 

Countries named as major drug producers risk U.S. sanctions, and half the
U.S. aid to these nations is suspended as the White House determines if
they're cooperating with anti-drug trafficking efforts, Rubin said. The U.S.
can grant an executive waiver to a country if that's deemed to be in the
U.S. national interest. 

The U.S. also votes against assistance for the countries by international
lending institutions. Clinton will make his decisions about the permanent
nature of the aid suspension in March 2000. 

The exclusion of Cuba is the most contentious element regarding this year's
list. Some in Congress worry about narcotics trafficking through its
airspace and water. Rubin said Cuba's not on the list because ``there was no
clear evidence that cocaine or heroin'' was passing through the country in
quantities that ``significantly affect the United States.'' 

In response to the list, Representative Benjamin Gilman, chairman of the
House International Relations Committee, vowed to hold public hearing on
Cuba's role in drug trafficking. 

``Contrary to propaganda of the Castro regime, the Cuban government does
nothing to stop drug shipments through its territory,'' Gilman said in a
statement. ``The amount of lawyer time spent examining what the term
'through' means for drugs transiting Cuba is illustrative of its perversion
of the annual drug certification process by this administration.'' 

Countries included on the 1999 list are: Afghanistan, the Bahamas, Bolivia,
Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, China, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador,
Guatemala, Haiti, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nigeria,
Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Taiwan, Thailand, and Venezuela and Vietnam. 

Nov/10/1999   18:33