U.S.-TRAINED TROOPS TAKING ON DRUG LABS

LA ESPERANZA, COLOMBIA Buoyed by unexpected success in fumigating
coca crops, a U.S.-financed offensive is targeting clandestine jungle
labs in search-and-destroy missions in the heart of the world's main
cocaine-producing region.

Colombian army troops, trained by Green Berets and guided by
spy-plane and satellite technology, have had only light skirmishes
with leftist rebels and rival right-wing paramilitary gunmen who earn
millions of dollars from "taxing" the cocaine industry in southern
Colombia.

U.S. officials say it is too early to declare victory, but the
Colombian commander of the operations says rebel vows to combat the
offensive have proved empty.

"We had expected tough fights when we went into these places. We
thought they would shoot down our helicopters and planes. But the
engagements have been routine," Colombian army Gen. Mario Montoya
told reporters Monday at Tres Esquinas army base, where U.S.
intelligence experts have operated alongside Colombian military
personnel in a heavily guarded Joint Intelligence Center.

Montoya then flew into the war zone to direct the demolition of a lab
that produced millions of dollars worth of cocaine. After showing
journalists the lab - hidden in a stand of jungle growth and
containing packages of purified cocaine, processing chemicals,
microwave ovens and an electrical generator - Montoya's men placed
explosive charges inside it and retreated into the middle of a coca
field.

"One, two, three!" Montoya called out. At three, a soldier pressed a
detonator, triggering a deafening explosion that enveloped the drug
lab in a fireball. It sent a column of black smoke into the air,
where helicopter gunships circled overhead like raptors seeking their
prey

Rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, had
overseen the operation of the lab, which was capable of refining
2,200 pounds of cocaine per week, Montoya said. But the guerrillas
were nowhere to be seen as the heavily armed government soldiers,
their faces smeared with camouflage paint, conducted sweeps into the
surrounding jungle. One discovered a stash of 1,100 pounds of "coca
paste," or unrefined cocaine.

Three men were arrested when the troops first arrived.

Montoya strode through the coca field, M-16 assault rifle in hand,
barking orders to his troops. After destroying the lab, along with
the chemicals and coca paste, Montoya boarded a helicopter and took
off for the Tres Esquinas base.

"I am convinced that the military capacity of the FARC is what we
have seen," Montoya told reporters of the rebel response to the
counterdrug offensive, which began Dec. 19 and has resulted in the
aerial fumigation of some 72,000 acres of coca, according to
Colombian and U.S. officials.

Whichever figures are correct, the early success has far exceeded
planners' expectations. Montoya, whose troops and helicopters protect
crop dusters from enemy gunfire, said he had been charged with
destroying some 59,000 acres of coca in two years, a target which he
surpassed only seven weeks after the so-called "Push into the South"
offensive began. A temporary halt to the spraying campaign was
declared 10 days ago. At least 123,000 acres of coca is believed to
still exist.

Montoya said his forces' presence on fumigation missions has
dramatically cut the risk to the crop dusters' pilots, who are
subcontracted by the U.S. State Department. Previously, when the crop
dusters flew unprotected, a plane was hit by bullets on virtually
every mission. Now, less than 1 percent of the planes receive
groundfire, Montoya said.