Pubdate: Mon, 26 Feb 2001
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Section: Pg A13
Copyright: 2001 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071
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Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: Karen DeYoung, Washington Post Staff Writer

PASTRANA PLEDGES COLOMBIA WON'T BE LIKE VIETNAM

Colombian President Andres Pastrana promised U.S. governors at their 
mid-winter conference here yesterday that "the United States will never get 
bogged down in Colombia's armed conflict."

Noting that "many here . . . make comparisons with America's experience in 
Vietnam," Pastrana said that neither the people nor the government in 
either country would support U.S. troop involvement in Colombia's ongoing 
war against leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary groups. "In 
short," he said, "it is not on the table, not now or in the future."

But in a brief speech to the National Governors Association, Pastrana also 
made three requests, asking for continued U.S. efforts to curb domestic 
demand for Colombian-produced cocaine and heroin, and a sustained U.S. 
commitment to counter-narcotics cooperation and peace negotiations with the 
guerrillas who feed financially off the drug business.

Most important, in Pastrana's view, he asked the governors to support 
liberalized trade initiatives and increased U.S. investment to bolster the 
Colombian economy.

Despite close cooperation on anti-drug efforts, the Clinton administration 
never came through on promised trade liberalization that Pastrana believes 
is vital for Colombia to turn the corner on drug production. During a 
four-day visit that began Saturday, Pastrana hopes to change the focus of 
U.S.-Colombian relations from fears of Vietnam and concerns over human 
rights abuses by the Colombian military to building support for economic 
measures, including the reestablishment of an international coffee quota 
system that lapsed under Clinton and the renewal and expansion of a trade 
preference agreement due to expire in December.

Leading up to a meeting Tuesday with President Bush, Pastrana will meet 
with U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick, Commerce Secretary 
Donald L. Evans and Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill, as well as 
representatives of the international financial institutions headquartered 
in Washington.

Pastrana also plans meetings with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, 
congressional leaders and Vice President Cheney.

Pastrana has every reason to believe that the Bush administration agrees 
with him. In his only campaign speech devoted to the Western Hemisphere, 
Bush said in August that trade would be the centerpiece of his regional 
policy. Among pending agreements, the administration has spoken favorably 
of expanding the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and 
Mexico. Negotiations on a separate Free Trade Agreement of the Americas 
(FTAA) have been underway for more than six years and could top the agenda 
at a hemispheric summit scheduled for April in Quebec City.

Colombia, and a number of other Latin American governments, would like to 
advance the starting date for FTAA from 2005 to 2003. But in the meantime, 
Colombia is asking for special treatment. In addition to coffee quotas to 
buttress falling world prices for a leading Colombian export, Colombia is 
asking that the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) be immediately renewed 
and expanded to eliminate tariffs on Colombian textiles and apparel.

Such expansion would put Colombia on par with Caribbean apparel producers 
who scored a big advantage with agreements eliminating such tariffs in 
October. The ATPA was originally established in 1991 as a 10-year 
preference to lure farmers in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia away from drug 
cultivation to crops such as cut flowers and fruit.

"Convincing guerrillas to lay down their arms, and getting peasants to move 
from coca cultivation into the legitimate economy means we have to create 
jobs for tens of thousands of Colombians," Pastrana told the governors.

After his speech to the governors association, Pastrana attended a Mass at 
St. Matthew's Cathedral, dedicated to Colombian peace and celebrated by the 
Vatican's representative to Washington, Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, a 
Colombian.

Yesterday afternoon, Pastrana and other officials watched the Academy 
Award-nominated movie "Traffic" at the Motion Picture Association of 
America downtown screening room. The movie depicts drug smuggling across 
the Mexican border through the eyes of a Mexican policeman, a major 
smuggler's family, federal agents and the head of the White House Drug 
Control Policy Office.

Asked afterward what he thought of the movie, Pastrana said he liked it. 
But, he said enviously, "there were no guerrillas and paramilitaries" to 
contend with in the film.
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