CLINTON, COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT PUSH ON HILL FOR $1.3 BILLION IN AID

President Clinton and Colombian President Andres Pastrana yesterday began a
joint push for congressional approval of $1.3 billion in aid for the
beleaguered South American nation, appealing for bipartisan support and
early passage of the bulk of the money.

As Pastrana met with congressional leaders, Clinton told reporters that the
U.S. goal is to help Colombians "gain some measure of control over their
country again." The effort, he said, will be a "test run for the kind of
challenges that my successors ... will face" in the future, when drug
traffickers, organized-crime groups and political terrorists may work
together.

"I would be surprised if we don't have large numbers of Republicans and
Democrats supporting this," Clinton said. "And I think we're going into
this with our eyes wide open."

While Colombia tries to stem a flood of cocaine and heroin exports that
supply 80 percent of the U.S. market, its government also is battling two
leftist guerrilla armies and a right-wing paramilitary force--all of which
derive income from taxing the drug trade. There is bipartisan agreement on
the urgent need to address the narcotics trafficking, but congressional
opinion is divided on how deeply and directly this country should become
involved.

While Republicans have questioned the prowess of the Colombian military,
some Democrats have expressed concern over the army's human rights record.
In an interview yesterday with Washington Post reporters and editors,
Pastrana acknowledged past human rights abuses. But he insisted that his
administration had made major improvements by cashiering senior officers
and imposing human rights regulations and polygraph exams on troops.

The administration's aid proposal consists of two segments: nearly $1
billion that could be approved in an emergency supplemental appropriation
before spring, and about $300 million in the president's budget request for
fiscal 2001. An additional $300 million already has been budgeted for the
next two years. Nearly 80 percent of the aid would go for military supplies
and training.

Pastrana, who arrived here Sunday for a three-day visit, said he was
optimistic about ongoing peace talks with the country's largest guerrilla
group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. But outside a
"peace zone" from which government forces have withdrawn in the south of
the country, he said, "complete war" continues with the rebels.

Pastrana said the most important military element in the aid package is
training and equipment for a 5,000-member rapid deployment force to bolster
the anti-narcotics efforts of the Colombian police. The U.S. military
already has trained an initial battalion of 1,000 soldiers. Additional
training and equipment are needed for the Colombian Navy and Air Force, he
said, to block the primary drug export routes in the air and along
Colombia's rivers.