cation of effort through combining the functions of five separate agencies. The Turbay administration has also undertaken a study of its judicial system in order to improve processing of narcotics related

cases.

At the diplomatic level, Colombia has demonstrated its willingness. to enter into international agreements relating to narcotics control. The Department of State, in cooperation with other Federal agencies, is working with the Colombian Government to negotiate procedures for or agreements covering extradition, maritime boarding and seizure, joint prosecution, banking, prisoner exchange, and return of aircraft. Colombia is also demonstrating its interest in cooperating closely with its South American neighbors on the narcotics issue. In December Colombia and Venezuela signed an anti-narcotics agreement setting up a joint commission to further cooperative action. Negotiations are now underway between Colombia and Peru on a similar agreement. For fiscal year 1980 the Department of State is requesting a total of $2,042,000 to support Colombian narcotics control organizations. Of this total, $1.3 million will be to provide support to the Attorney General's narcotics unit. Another $290,000 will defray the costs of two U.S. Customs advisers and limited equipment to enhance the narcotics interdiction capability of Colombia's Customs Service. The remainder of the request will provide administrative and program development support.

Of particular importance this past year have been the increasing emphasis on maritime narcotics interdiction, and the close, effective cooperation of U.S. law enforcement agencies with their counterparts from other governments in the region. Intelligence estimates indicate that approximately 70 percent of the marihuana and substantial quantities of cocaine entering the United States is moved by vessel through the Caribbean area.

Fortunately, our law enforcement agencies are becoming increasingly successful at intercepting smuggling vessels on the high seas. In 1978 the Coast Guard seized 1,700 tons of marihuana and 140 vessels engaged in marihuana smuggling. U.S. Customs seized an additional 222 vessels in our territorial waters, netting 1,000 tons of marihuana and 60.9 kilograms of cocaine.

The key to improved vessel interdiction is improved intelligence. Currently, approximately 20 percent of the smuggling vessels seizures are the result of previous intelligence, usually from the network of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents in the Caribbean area. Since last summer the U.S. Navy has been providing the Coast Guard additional intelligence by reporting sightings of suspect vessels. Additionally, during the Commandant of the Coast Guard's recent trip through the Caribbean and Latin America he proposed to his foreign counterparts a regional arrangement for reporting at sea sightings of possible smuggling vessels. The Latin American response was favorable and the Department of State is providing diplomatic and limited financial support as the Coast Guard moves to implement its plans.

By international law, the Coast Guard cannot board and seize suspected narcotics smuggling vessels on the high seas without first obtaining permission from the government under whose flag they sail. Such permission can usually be obtained through our embassies on an ad hoc basis. At times, however, unavoidable delays have enabled

smuggling vessels to jettison their illicit cargo or even escape capture. To address this problem the Department of State has opened negotiations with cooperating Caribbean area governments to institutionalize and expedite the granting of such permission.

We have responded to the growing threat of cocaine and marihuana smuggling in the Caribbean by developing small, carefully selected narcotics control assistance programs. În fiscal year 1980 we are requesting $270,000 to continue limited commodity support and training for the Bahamas ($100,000), Panama ($70,000), and Honduras ($100,000), important transit areas of narcotics destined for the United States. We are also reviewing the question of program assistance to Jamaica.

Over the long term, success in closing off existing transit routes is sure to be countered by opening new ones, although not without some disruption in the traffic and increased costs for the trafficking. The greatest promise for a lasting dimunition of drug trafficking lies in curtailing production of drugs at their source.

Controlling coca leaf production is a difficult challenge, but a course which is an essential ingredient of any long-term anticocaine strategy. The task is complicated, however, by the presence of extensive licit coca production alongside the illicit. Coca leaf is legally cultivated and consumed by large segments of Bolivian and Peruvian societies. Such consumption is traditional-usually chewed or brewed as a mild tea. Additionally, coca leaf is essential in the production of cocaine for legitimate medicinal purposes. Control is also made more difficult by the remoteness of areas where it is grown and by the economic and political problems endemic in Bolivia and Peru. Consequently, our cooperative efforts with those governments of necessity address the control of licit as well as illicit coca production and trafficking.

For Bolivia in fiscal year 1980 we are requesting $3.1 million to support efforts to continue development of alternative crops, marketing systems ($1.4 million), and projects to create institutions to insure that production is limited to legitimate needs and not diverted into illicit trafficking ($800,000). Most of these efforts are directed at eliminating coca production in the Chapare, primary source of Bolivia's illicit crop. The shift to coffee, tea, and other alternative crops will be encouraged by free distribution of Government-cleared land to those who give up coca.

The remainder of Bolivian coca is grown in the Yungas, an historical source for legitimate supplies. We are setting aside $410,000 to assist the National Directorate for Control of Dangerous Substances (DNSP) improve its control mechanisms designed to limit coca production to the Yungas, to reduce the level needed to meet licit demand, and to prevent displacement of coca production to other areas. Thus far, all coca farmers have been registered and licensed, and all new plantings have been prohibited. Registration of coca middlemen is now underway, and should be completed this year.

Last year we were able to reach cooperative assistance agreements with Peru, a country in which both licit and illicit coca production is believed to exceed that of neighboring Bolivia. The Peruvian Government has passed a strong anti-narcotics law. We are working closely with Peru to develop and implement workable narcotics control efforts that enforce the law against illicit production and we are studying

with the Peruvians, programs to control production and provide alternatives to small poor coca producers, along the pattern in Bolivia. These new initiatives in Peru are creating a balanced program for controlling cocaine traffic at its source. For fiscal year 1980 we are requesting a total of $1.7 million to continue support of this effort.

Of this total, in the field of crop control and reduction we are requesting $800,000 for programs in the Hunaco-Tingo Maria regions. These projects will be based upon studies now underway, and will require farmers to plow under illegal coca plantings and strictly limit the legal ones to legitimate requirements. Programs will be implemented to provide farmers affected with incentives and alternative means for income. Complementing this effort, the Agency for International Development (AID) recently signed an agreement with Peru which includes a clause prohibiting coca production in the project area. Approximately $500,000 is planned to support Peruvian narcotics control agencies. These funds will help defray operational costs and provide limited equipment support, primarily for communications and transport purposes. Funds are also designated for a modest demand reduction program, primarily in the field of preventive education.

Mr. Chairman, the challenge of controlling the international illicit traffic and abuse of narcotics remains with us. The U.S. Government's international narcotics control programs, however, have demonstrated clear success in reducing the impact of that problem upon the people of this country, particularly in regard to heroin abuse.

Not all foreign governments have as yet been as successful as the United States in reducing the availability of drugs within their borders, and they still require our assistance. They have, however, demonstrated a growing awareness of the problem, and with that awareness has come an increasing commitment of resources to combatting it. We are confident that the assistance which we continue to provide the international effort is paying dividends which benefit not only our own citizens, but those of other countries as well.

The program which I have outlined for you today reflects the changing trends in international drug trafficking. Over the next 2-year period we will not relax our cooperative efforts with Mexico against heroin in order to insure a continued downard trend in its abuse. We will simultaneously place increased emphasis upon the heroin traffic from Asia, and redouble our efforts to enlist the full coordinated support of the entire international community in those efforts. Closer to home, we will continue to increase our commitment of resources to limiting the socially and economically destructive aspects of illicit cocaine and marihuana trafficking within this hemisphere. I am optimistic that over the next few years we will see the same kind of success against these drugs as we have seen against heroin in the past 2 years.

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SECTION 121

ASSISTANCE TO BEREAVED UNITED STATES FAMILIES

Section 121 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Year
1979, dated September 6, 1978 reads as follows:

"Section 121. (a) The Congress finds that the Department of State
should, in the performance of its consular duties, render all reasonable
administrative assistance to a U.S. citizen who is making necessary
arrangements following the death of another U.S. citizen abroad.
"(b) The Secretary of State shall-

"(1) analyze alternative procedures by which the Department of State could, where necessary and appropriate, provide loans or other forms of assistance to facilitate such arrangements: and "(2) not later than January 20, 1979, transmit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a report describing fully and completely such alternate procedures, including associated costs, and presenting his views and recommendations with respect to such procedures.'

CONSULAR OFFICER'S PRESENT ROLE

When an American citizen dies abroad, the disposition of the remains is the responsibility of the next of kin or legal representative. If these persons do not or cannot assume this responsibility, and if there are insufficient funds found in the personal possession of the deceased and from which the U.S. consul may draw to cover the necessary expenses, the U.S. consul requests that the local foreign authorities in whose jurisdiction the death occurred assume the responsibility and expense of appropriate disposition according to local law.

The degree of assistance rendered to the next of kin or legal representative by the Department and its consular officers depends in large part on whether or not the deceased was accompanied by the next of kin or legal representative. If the deceased citizen was not accompanied by one of these persons, the consular officer notifies one or the other of them by a direct relay cable (from the post overseas directly to the family). Last year the Department arranged with Western Union to have these cables hand delivered to the addressee and to notify the Department promptly if for some reason the cable could not be delivered within 24 hours after its receipt.

The death notification cable expresses condolences, relates the circumstances of the death and informs the next of kin or designated emergency addressee how to transmit funds for disposition of the remains, that is, for local burial, cremation and disposal of the ashes, or preparing and shipping the body to the United States. When the

next of kin has made a decision, he or she deposits the funds with the Department, which then authorizes the consular officer to proceed with making arrangements in accordance with the next of kin's wishes. If the next of kin decides to have the remains shipped to the United States, the consular officer arranges with the local funeral director to embalm the body, or otherwise prepare it for shipment if embalming is not available, provide an appropriate coffin, procure required documentation, and ship the remains by commercial transportation to a funeral establishment in the United States with which the family or legal representative has already made arrangements for receipt of the remains. The consular officer also prepares a report of death, based on the death certificate issued by local authorities, and transmits it to the next of kin; takes temporary possession of the deceased's personal effects; and requests proof of entitlement and instructions from the next of kin or other legal claimant as to the disposition of these effects. If the next of kin or legal representative was in the company of the deceased at the time of death, it is his or her responsibility to arrange for preparation of the body, purchase of a casket and shipment of the body to the United States if not buried locally or cremated. In these circumstances, the consular officer renders as much facilitative assistance as possible.

At present all expenses relating to the disposition of remains are the responsibility of the next of kin or other legal representative of the estate, as are all expenses for handling the deceased's effects.

NATURE OF THE PROBLEM

TIME FACTOR

Laws and regulations regarding the disposition of remains of a deceased person vary from country to country. In most Western European countries where embalming is available, these regulations are comparable to those in the United States. On the other hand, most countries in Africa and Asia and some in Latin America, where embalming and refrigeration facilities are either nonexistent or available only in the larger metropolitan areas, and where there is a danger of spreading infectious diseases, require burial (or cremation) of the body within 24 or 48 hours. For this reason, the next of kin, the Department and the consular officer must act quickly in making decisions, in transferring funds and in arranging for embalming and other preparations for shipment of the body if the deadlines set for local burial are to be met.

COST FACTOR

While the cost of local burial or cremation in most foreign countries is usually below the cost for comparable services in the United States, the cost of embalming or otherwise preparing a body for shipment, of purchasing a casket and lead or zinc container, and of transporting the body to the United States is generally much higher than the cost of a funeral here. This cost problem is compounded by the need for the next of kin to obtain funds for disposition of the remains without delay. Funeral directors in foreign countries, except in very unusual circumstances, will not grant credit for their services; they insist on having