The costs to other societies have been severe: the rise of drug gangs, the suffering of peasants from crop eradication, the corruption of governments.

"For two years, despite having the necessary equipment and chemicals, the military government has done nothing in crop eradication or drug interdiction," a Myanmar-based diplomat said.

Corruption and politics further limit crop eradication.

To Holbrooke, it proved the wisdom of the Administration's policy of concentrating on drug dealers instead of crop eradication.

Coming on top of a more modest decline in 2002, the development validated for American authorities the $3.2 billion spent here since 2000, mostly for crop eradication.

The peasant opposition also forced the Government to make a partial retreat from its commitment to halt coca growing in the Chapare through crop eradication and substitution.

So far, crop eradication is done manually or mechanically from the ground.

The program focuses instead on drug interdiction and crop eradication.

A State Department official said Colombia's crop eradication was omitted because the Department did not yet have available figures.

Thus in Bogota last October the EU stressed the need not to put alternative development projects at risk by non-selective operation of illicit crop eradication.