COLOMBIAN BREW

Aid money being sent to Colombia will arrive with fewer strings attached now
that president Clinton has signed a waiver allowing the $1.3 billion to
bypass human rights conditions potentially blocking its release. Billed as
"both pro-peace and anti-drug," is made up of about $1 billion in military
and police assistance, with the rest being reserved for civilian uses.

Added by Congress because of concerns over the Colombian military's poor
record, the human rights prerequisites could only be swept aside for
"national security" reasons, as President Clinton has now done. Only one of
seven conditions imposed by congress had been met - that Colombian President
Pastrana inform the military that soldiers accused of human rights abuses
would be tried in civilian courts. Without the waiver, the U.S. Secretary
of State would have had to certify the Colombian government's investigation
and prosecution of military and paramilitary abuses, as well as its progress
toward cutting ties between the military and paramilitary forces
(illegitimate "death squads").

Drug trade revenues indirectly finance not only the largest leftist rebel
groups, but also various right-wing paramilitary organizations. Yet it
appears that the training and equipment Colombia will receive, including
sixty U.S. helicopters, will be used to eliminate drug crops contained
mostly in rebel territory. Links between the Colombian military and
murderous paramilitaries, well documented by such groups as Human Rights
Watch, seem to be overlooked in the rush to fight drugs. In the spring,
paramilitary leader Carlos Castano admitted that some 70 percent of his
funding was drug-related. He later claimed on television that the Drug
Enforcement Agency had offered him aid in return for his promise to fight
drug traffickers.