PARAMILITARY OFFERS TO TURN OVER DRUG LORDS

Colombian rightist force seeks recognition from Washington

BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombia's rightist paramilitary force, officially
condemned by the U.S. government, has offered to broker the surrender
of ``important'' drug lords to U.S. justice in hopes of winning the
opportunity to present its case in Washington.

The group said it wanted to ``open doors'' in Washington now closed
because of its killings of alleged leftist guerrilla
sympathizers.

Carlos Castano, head of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia,
known as AUC, explained the proposal in a March 9 e-mail to Miami
criminal attorney Joaquin Perez, who has represented Colombians wanted
in the U.S. on drug charges.

``I believe many narcos are willing to take part in this message of
intention to submit to the gringos,'' Castano wrote Perez. ``My hope
is that the State Department will answer this noble project.''

As improbable as the offer may appear, Castano underlined its
seriousness by sending a top aide to Miami shortly after his e-mail to
discuss its details with Perez.

The offer poses a dilemma for U.S. officials because the AUC has grown
into a key player in Colombia's war, with 8,000 fighters and rising
support among Colombians who see it as a legitimate actor battling
leftist rebels.

U.S. officials can reject any contact with the AUC and lose the chance
to bring Colombian drug traffickers to justice, or they can cut a deal
that could land the narcotics kingpins in U.S. jails but lend a
measure of legitimacy to the paramilitaries.

The annual State Department Human Rights Report on Colombia, issued
last month, described the AUC as ``a mercenary vigilante force,
financed by criminal activities and sectors of society that are
targeted by guerrillas. Although some paramilitary groups reflect
rural residents' desire to organize solely for self-defense, most are
vigilante organizations . . .''

Human rights groups blame the AUC for at least half of the 3,600
political killings that took place in Colombia last year.

U.S. officials were not immediately available for comment on the AUC
offer. But a Congressional aide contacted by Castano envoys last year
said it would be difficult for Washington to make public contact with
the AUC.

``The paramilitaries have a lot of good reasons on their side, but
massacres are not the way to make friends in Washington,'' the aide
said.

Castano could not be contacted for comment.

But a member of the AUC's Central Command who uses the code name of
Diego discussed the offer during an interview this week in northern
Colombia.

Diego said Castano is already in contact with ``numerous and
important'' drug lords wanted in the United States who want to come
out of hiding, submit themselves to U.S. justice and get on with their
lives.

For other drug lords, he added, ``our message will be that either they
submit to U.S. justice or the military side of the conflict will reach
them -- not the [Colombian] government, which is too corrupt, or the
guerrillas, who profit from the drugs, but us, the AUC.''

The narcotraffickers' legal cases are now spread across many of the 94
U.S. district courts, and a coordinated deal with American prosecutors
would make it easier for drug lords to consider surrendering, said
Joaquin Perez.

Diego acknowledged the AUC was making the offer public ``to awaken
interest in Washington.'' The AUC, he added, ``wants this to open
doors in Washington, so that our version of this situation can be heard.''

With Colombian President Andres Pastrana refusing steadfastly to open
official talks with the AUC, Diego said, ``if Pastrana refuses to
recognize us, at least we want other governments to take notice of our
positions.''

But Diego added that the real purpose behind the AUC's proposal was to
attack Colombia's narcotics industry, ``the worst scourge in this
country and the central axis and detonator of our conflict.''

By getting rid of drug traffickers, he added, the AUC will undercut
leftist guerrillas -- the 17,000-member FARC and 3,500-member National
Liberation Army, or ELN -- who earn an estimated $500 million a year
by ``taxing'' the cocaine and heroin trade.

Castano has admitted the AUC receives 70 percent of its finances from
drug traffickers, but insisted that is a necessity imposed by the war
which he would surrender whenever the fighting ends.

Negotiations with Washington would be carried out by the drug
traffickers' lawyers, not the AUC, ``although we hope the Americans
would want to receive a messenger from us to discuss the issue,'' said
Diego.

Castano is no stranger to alliances with U.S. interests, having helped
Colombian police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to track
down Medellin Cartel leader Pablo Escobar, killed in 1993.

He has been a strong supporter of the $1.3 billion in U.S.
counter-narcotics aid to Colombia, even ordering his troops not to
shoot at U.S.-owned crop dusters spraying herbicides on coca fields.