Pubdate: Wed, 28 October, 1998 Source: Seattle Times (WA) Contact: http://www.seattletimes.com/ Copyright: 1998 The Seattle Times Company Author: The Associated Press COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT SEEKS TO EASE DRUG FRICTION WITH U.S. WASHINGTON - Colombian President Andres Pastrana says he wants to improve relations with the United States by eliminating drug trafficking as a source of tensions between the two countries. "We need to `denarcoticize' our relations," he said upon arriving yesterday in Washington for a three-day state visit. President Clinton was meeting with Pastrana today at the White House. It is the first state visit by a Colombian president in 23 years. The U.S. government refused to deal with Pastrana's predecessor, Ernesto Samper, because of allegations that he accepted campaign funding from cocaine lords. Talks with Clinton administration officials will focus on Colombia's peace process, efforts to combat drug trafficking, protection of human rights and economic development, State Department spokesman James Rubin said. The Harvard-educated Pastrana, 44, who was inaugurated in August, has made overtures of peace with guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Pastrana has agreed to a key demand by the rebels, to demilitarize large tracts of Colombia's interior. Pastrana recently confirmed that troops have begun pulling out of five cattle-ranching and cocaine-producing towns. They will be gone by Nov. 7, ceding a territory the size of West Virginia to the guerrillas they have been fighting for nearly four decades. The U.S. Congress last week voted for a $2.6 billion boost in funding to repress the drug traffic from South America, including the purchase of six Blackhawk helicopters for the Colombian police. This doubles U.S. anti-drug assistance to Colombia to $280 million in fiscal 1999, making Colombia the third-largest recipient of overall U.S. economic aid in the world after Israel and Egypt, U.S. officials said. Republicans added a clause to the legislation stipulating that anti-drug aid would be cut off if Pastrana's peace plan interferes with U.S.-funded drug-eradication programs, including the chemical fumigation of coca and poppy plantations. Colombian guerrillas "tax" narcotics production in return for protecting drug crops. Information from The Los Angeles Times and Reuters is included in this report. - --- Checked-by: Rich O'Grady