The head of Colombia's armed forces said Wednesday that he had been given
the go ahead to use antidrug aid from the United States to fight Marxist
rebels.

Speaking a day after U.S. drug czar Barry McCaffrey ended a threeday
visit, Gen. Manuel Jose Bonett said the U.S. Congress might even approve a
counterinsurgency package for Colombia, which has been torn by more than
three decades of guerrilla war.

U.S. officials have expressed their alarm at the growing strength of
Colombia's leftist rebels, now said to have effective control over 40
percent of the country. Many of them are said to be linked with drug gangs.

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