Pubdate: Fri, 21 Jun 2002
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2002 The Dallas Morning News
Contact:  http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Author:  Alfredo Corchado, The Dallas Morning News
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?203 (Terrorism)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

COLOMBIA'S URIBE WANTS MORE U.S. ANTI-DRUG FUNDS

WASHINGTON -- Colombian President-elect Alvaro Uribe pressed President Bush 
on Thursday for more help in the war against drug traffickers and 
terrorism, vowing to involve every sector of Colombian society.

After a White House meeting with the president, National Security Adviser 
Condoleezza Rice and other top administration officials, Mr. Uribe praised 
Mr. Bush for "his admirable determination to fight against terrorism."

"We have to emulate this determination in Colombia to rid ourselves of the 
problems upon us that we have faced for so many years against subversive 
groups," Mr. Uribe said before concluding a three-day visit to Washington.

Assistant Secretary of State Otto Reich described the meeting between Mr. 
Bush and Mr. Uribe as "very frank and very friendly. They're in total 
agreement that we have to eliminate terrorism and other dangers like 
narco-trafficking that both countries face."

Mr. Uribe, who takes office Aug. 7, won a landslide election last month, 
running on a strong anti-guerrilla platform welcomed by U.S. officials.

In his first meeting with Bush administration officials, Mr. Uribe was 
warmly received by U.S. policy-makers eager to see stability return to a 
country ravaged by a decades-old civil war that has Colombians mired in 
fear and leaving in droves.

In private meetings with administration officials, Mr. Uribe pledged to 
raise taxes, expand social services, double the size of the armed forces 
and set up a 1 million-member civilian defense force - conditions placed by 
some members of Congress in return for more U.S. aid.

Mr. Uribe's visit comes as the White House awaits the outcome of a request 
to Congress to end a ban on U.S. military assistance for use against 
Colombian rebel groups, a move that would dramatically increase U.S. 
involvement in the conflict.

The House approved the request, included in a $30 billion worldwide 
counterterrorism bill, on May 24. The Senate followed suit June 7. 
Conferees are resolving differences in the two bills and may finish their 
work by month's end.

Increased U.S. aid, administration officials said, doesn't mean the 
involvement of U.S. troops.

"The Colombian government must have the flexibility and resources necessary 
to strengthen and professionalize its military, while respecting human 
rights," said House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.

Mr. Uribe was briefed by top administration officials on how the war 
against Colombia's two guerrilla groups and a rightist paramilitary group 
is poised to change. The three groups, which pocket $600 million annually 
from drug profits, have been designated foreign terrorist organizations by 
the State Department.

Although Mr. Uribe appeared to have said all the right things, Lino 
Gutierrez, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Western 
hemisphere affairs, cautioned: "The devil is always in the details, but 
this strikes me as a good beginning."

Colombia is the third-largest recipient of U.S. assistance, behind Israel 
and Egypt. It has gotten almost $2 billion in recent years, most of it in 
military assistance to battle drug trafficking. Colombia accounts for 90 
percent of worldwide cocaine production.

Many in Congress complain about continuing ties between the Colombian 
military and the paramilitary group, which is accused of serious human 
rights violations.

Asked about human rights, Mr. Uribe, who succeeds President Andres 
Pastrana, said: "You have two options: One of them to get a short-term 
peace, a nondurable peace. The other option is to get a permanent peace.

"For Colombia to get a permanent peace, Colombia needs a government with 
two commitments - to defeat violence and to recover human rights."

The war in Colombia is only likely to escalate under Mr. Uribe, predict 
analysts such as Ana Maria Salazar, a former Pentagon official and 
international expert on hemispheric security at the Mexican Autonomous for 
Technological Institute in Mexico City.

"Anybody who becomes president of Colombia doesn't have much of an option 
but to take the fight to the guerrillas to a new level," she said. "Unless 
the guerrillas show some political will to stop the violence, this conflict 
will get a lot more bloody."
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