GAO: Plan Colombia succeeds in part

BOGOTA - The nearly $5 billion US aid package known as Plan Colombia failed to meet its goal of halving illegal narcotics production in this Andean nation, says a US congressional report released yesterday.

The General Accounting Office report does, however, note that the mostly military assistance helped Colombia markedly improve security, with kidnapping and murder rates falling and the military greatly reducing the leftist rebel threat.

US officials are making it clear that aid for Colombia, an estimated $657 million in fiscal 2008, will now be trimmed because of the US financial crisis.

Despite record aerial eradication, coca cultivation rose by 15 percent in this Andean nation during Plan Colombia's 2000-2006 run, the report says.

ASSOCIATED PRESS