COLOMBIAN PEACE TALKS MAY NOT RIVAL 'WEST WING,' BUT THEY'RE THE REAL THING

Peace negotiations launched last week by Colombian President Andres
Pastrana and FARC guerrilla chief Manuel Marulanda might not prove as
exciting or fanciful as Wednesday night's episode of the NBC drama "The
West Wing." The show portrayed U.S. Black Hawk helicopters landing on
Colombian hilltops in the dead of night and botching the rescue of American
hostages.

But for Guillermo Fernandez, Pastrana's foreign minister, the peace efforts
in the ongoing fight against drug trafficking are intensely serious "even
if we don't get peace in a month or a year." He told Washington Post
editors and reporters Wednesday that the guerrillas' agreement to negotiate
a cease-fire, a cessation of hostilities and international verification of
the process were "very good" signs.

The exchange of sick guerrillas for captured policemen and soldiers through
mechanisms developed at the negotiating table between the government and
rebel representatives would lead to the "humanization" of the conflict,
Fernandez said.

For the military component of Plan Colombia, the multibillion-dollar
anti-drug and economic development program, he said, the only country
capable of helping is the United States. Europe has promised to take care
of the "soft" segment of the plan, focusing on humanitarian issues,
alternatives to drug cultivation and social programs, he added. The main
issue with the new Bush administration at this stage is to boost trade and
preferential trading terms, Fernandez said, adding: "This is what creates
permanent employment and stability."

In a departure from previous visits to Washington by Colombian officials,
when they expressed frustration and pique at meddling by Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez with Colombian leftist guerrillas, Fernandez said
integration with Venezuela was "essential" because of the volume of
investments and a long common border.

"I cannot say I saw evidence, but my sense is, and I believe that they have
relations with insurgents," Fernandez said of the leadership in Caracas.
Chavez has been quiet on that issue, however.

A Complicated World

In remarks to the Rotary Club of Washington on Wednesday, Lee H. Hamilton,
director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center, predicted that U.S.
diplomacy will become more complicated.

"We will have great difficulty harnessing our power to advance our
interests and achieve our goals," he said. "Since we cannot bear every
burden, we will have to find new ways to join with other capable and
like-minded nations. We will need to cooperate with our allies and utilize
international institutions."

Hamilton predicted that important actors emerging on the world stage
include China, Russia, India, Mexico, Brazil, the European Union and many
big corporations and nonprofit groups.

To meet threats and challenges brought on by forces of integration that
make the United States more vulnerable to terrorism, organized crime, drug
trafficking and the spread of weapons and disease, the country needs strong
alliances in Europe and Asia, an open global economy and effective
international institutions, Hamilton said. America will also need a "strong
and modernized military that is adapted to take on new challenges, such as
homeland defense and international peacekeeping," he added.

There is no guarantee that the positive trends and advances in democracy,
free markets and respect of human rights will endure, and Washington must
continue to lead and make the right policy choices: investing more in
technology and education, and strengthening civic and private institutions,
he noted.

Some 50 ambassadors attended Hamilton's luncheon address at the Hotel
Washington.

First to Arrive

On Wednesday Juan Jose Bremer of Mexico became the first ambassador to
present his credentials to President Bush. Bremer was accredited just in
time to catch a plane back home for Bush's first visit to a foreign country
since his Jan. 20 inauguration.

"The bilateral relationship between Mexico and the United States of America
is one of the most intense, complex and multifaceted in the world," Bremer
said. "Every 12 years, the Mexican and U.S. governments coincide in the
commencement of new administrations. . . . As neighbors and friends, we are
compelled to foster a greater knowledge of each other," Bremer told Bush.

A key bilateral issue facing the two nations is the U.S.-Mexico "migration
relationship." To "make legality the prevailing norm," according to the
U.S.-Mexico Migration Panel, the United States should, over time, make
legal status available to unauthorized Mexicans who are established and
working.