WHY COLOMBIA ISN'T CONQUERING DRUGS

WHEN I first met him, his countrymen still believed in a peaceful
solution, a negotiated settlement to the drug-funded guerrilla war in
Colombia. And that's why Gen. Harold Bedoya lost the Colombian
presidential elections three years ago.

But after three years of regression in the on-and-off Colombia peace
negotiations, after the current Colombia president ceded land and
even judicial impunity to the narco-guerrillas, after hundreds of
additional acts of terrorism and countless more murders and
abductions of innocent people, Bedoya, the former head of the
Colombian armed forces, feels the time is right for a strong-arm
president.

When I spoke to him via telephone from Colombia last week, he told me
he has launched a new campaign for the Colombian presidency next year.

"If I had wanted to be president by coup d'etat, I could have done
it," he says. "Many people encouraged me to do it when I was the head
of the armed forces. But since I'm a democrat and I believe in
liberty, I'm submitting my name for the next elections so that the
people can elect me and we can save Colombia democratically."

Bedoya says this time he has a better chance of getting elected
"because the country cannot afford to keep making the same mistake"
of electing politicians who are indebted to the drug bosses.

"In Colombia we have reached the extreme of electing presidents every
four years with money and support of the drug traffickers," he said.
"Under those conditions, when they take power, they can't have the
political will to confront the corruption or the crimes being
committed, because they are part of the [drug] business. And that's
why in Colombia there can't be any significant reform, as long as we
keep electing the same political mafia."

Many Colombians agree. Many are even calling for U.S. military
intervention in their homeland. But Bedoya says that would not be
necessary. He says that with adequate U.S. support but without
American troops, the Colombian army can wipe out all major drug
production and distribution within 18 months. He tells you the
Colombian government knows exactly where to find the drug
laboratories, and hidden landing strips used by the drug cartels. And
he was in a position to know.

As the head of Colombian armed forces, he was at least partly
responsible for dismantling the Medellin and Cali drug cartels.

Bedoya says that during the recent peace negotiations, the current
Colombian government of President Andres Pastrana and other
"white-collar delinquents" in the Colombian Congress have not created
conditions for winning the war on drugs, but for losing it.

"When I'm the president of Colombia, that will be the end of all
kinds of protections, advantages, and guarantees that are now given
to delinquents in my country," he said. "And the armed forces will
have all the support and dignity it needs to defend the sovereignty
and independence of all Colombians."

Some Colombians say they fear handing the reigns of power to a
military man. But many others say that in desperate times, radical
measures are necessary.

As he did three years ago, when he campaigned among Colombians in New
Jersey, Bedoya says that military force will not be enough. He talks
about strong relations with the United States and other countries
affected by Colombian drugs to institute a capital investment program
- -- he calls it a new Marshall Plan for Colombia -- to wean farm
workers off coca production. He says a war has to be fought in
Colombia against the drug lords and leftist terrorists who have
banded together.

Had he been elected three years ago, Bedoya says, Colombia would be
in full recuperation. "We would have more capital, more jobs," he
says. "We would have ended the political corruption which is bleeding
our country economically. We would have militarily combated against
international terrorism and drug traffic. There would be less drugs
in the United States. Fewer Colombian undocumented immigrants would
be coming here, and we would have prevented the disintegration of
Colombia."

He said President Andres Pastrana has literally lost ground in the
peace negotiations with the drug-guerrillas by giving a large chunk
of southern Colombia to one guerrilla group and negotiating to give
another chunk to another band of terrorists.

Bedoya said the Pastrana government's "Plan Colombia," which is
mostly funded by American taxpayers, is a misguided effort. "It's a
12-year plan, and by that time Colombia will be producing double the
amount of drugs," he said. "I propose to eliminate the problem within
18 months. They want to do things little by little and I want to
eliminate all the drug labs and airfields -- all at once."

He says it really isn't hard to do. "I demonstrated in various
occasions that it can be done without many resources but with
political will," he said, "which is what is still lacking in my
country."