Pubdate: Thu, 23 Sep 1999
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 1999 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://www.seattletimes.com/
Author:  John Diamond, Chicago Tribune

COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT SEEKS BOOST IN U.S. AID

(WASHINGTON) - Beset by one of the world's longest civil wars and by his
nation's reputation as the world's biggest cocaine exporter, Colombian
President Andres Pastrana came to town yesterday seeking billions in
economic and military assistance.

The Clinton administration and lawmakers seem willing to give it to
him, and World Bank President James Wolfensohn added his support. But
there is disagreement over what the money should buy.

Democrats want the aid focused on drug exports, and they urge the
Bogota government to negotiate an end to the civil war. But
Republicans told Pastrana bluntly: no money as long as your government
negotiates with rebels who support narcotics traffickers.

Colombia seeks $3.5 billion in U.S. assistance over the next three
years or a combination of U.S. aid and support from European
countries. That kind of money would put the South American nation in a
class with Israel and Egypt as leading recipients of U.S. foreign aid.

Colombia is receiving about $300 million in U.S. aid this year. The
Clinton administration has made no formal commitment, but officials
say the latest U.S. proposal is for about $1.5 billion over three years.

Lawmakers said the money barely would keep pace with the
cocaine-generated cash flow available to rebel groups that have ties
with Colombia's drug-export industry.

The problem weighed at the White House and on Capitol Hill is how to
stem the flow to the United States of Colombian cocaine and heroin
without being drawn into the 40-year insurgency that has left a chunk
of Colombia the size of Switzerland in rebel hands.

In an interview yesterday before touring Capitol Hill, Pastrana said
it is impossible to separate the two.

"If we defeat narco-trafficking, we are also defeating the
guerrillas," he said. "The worst enemy of the peace process is drug
trafficking."

Pastrana said he wants U.S. military equipment, technical support,
training and intelligence as his government assembles a special
battalion of 950 members dedicated to helping police fight
narco-traffickers. The force could grow to 4,000 within three years,
he said.

A U.S. intelligence official said there is no question that rebel
forces in Colombia gain financial support from the drug trade,
although he added that the level of support is difficult to pinpoint.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers were quoting a figure of nearly $1 billion
per year flowing from drug traffickers to rebel forces.

"This is our war as much as Colombia's war," said Rep. Dan Burton,
R-Ind., a member of the House International Relations Committee. "The
billions we're talking about for dealing with the drug problem down
there is not enough."

From the opposite end of the political spectrum, Sen. Christopher
Dodd, D-Conn., a Latin American specialist on the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, said he is concerned about excessive U.S.
involvement in the rebel war. But he said the problem the guerrillas
pose to the Colombian government can't be exaggerated.

"Colombia is a country that is on the brink of losing its
sovereignty," Dodd said.

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