COLOMBIA, U.S. LOOK AT ANDEAN DRUG PLAN

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Colombia held talks on Tuesday
on their anti-drugs offensive in rebel-controlled southern Colombia,
discussing the fears of neighboring countries about the impact on them.

Secretary of State Colin Powell met Colombian Foreign Minister Guillermo
Fernandez de Soto and told him the Bush administration was committed to
backing Plan Colombia, which uses U.S.-equipped troops in a drive against
drug crops.

"It was a very positive, somewhat detailed, discussion of how Plan Colombia
is working, how Plan Colombia is achieving some success and how we can go
forward in the future," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

Boucher said Powell was particularly interested in "looking at what we do
with neighboring countries, how we make it an Andean sort of strategy."

Washington decided in 2000 to spend $1.3 billion over two years to back
Plan Colombia, which calls for a military push against drug plantations
protected by Marxist guerrillas.

Colombia is the world's main cocaine producer and a source of much of the
heroine sold on the streets of U.S. cities.

Plan Colombia includes peace talks with the well-financed and heavily armed
rebels, and alternative crop programs to draw peasants away from coca and
poppy growing.

The U.S. aid is mainly going into training Colombian army units and
equipping them with Blackhawk helicopters for rapid deployment into areas
rebels have held for decades.

Colombia's neighbors fear armed clashes will send waves of refugees
spilling across their borders, followed by the drug plantations, and they
are seeking more U.S. funding.

Powell and Fernandez did not talk about future funding, Boucher said. "The
discussion centered on the desire of the United States to continue to
support Plan Colombia," he said.

Pastrana To Meet Bush

Colombian President Andres Pastrana will meet President George W. Bush in
Washington on Feb. 27 to discuss the crisis in Colombia, where peace talks
with the main guerrilla movement resume on Wednesday after a three-month break.

Fernandez said relations between Bogota and Washington were "excellent" and
he thanked the Bush administration for continuing to support Plan Colombia.

Powell was given an update on the peace process that was revived last week
after Pastrana had talks with the commander of the 17,000 guerrillas of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Manuel Marulanda.

Fernandez reported progress in the destruction by aerial spraying of 30,000
hectares of coca in Putumayo province in only six weeks, amounting to half
the plantations in the area.

He said 10,000 peasant families had agreed to enter the government's
voluntary eradication program. "These results effectively show that the
plan is working," he said.

"We discussed the regional dimension that the plan should have. We are
going to work on that," Fernandez told reporters as he left the State
Department. He gave no details.

Fernandez asked the Bush administration for support in winning preferential
trade treatment for exports from Andean nations entering the U.S. market.

"I did not come to ask for more money. I came to ask for more cooperation
and trade," he said.

"The regional dimension is fundamental in this fight. Colombia cannot
eradicate the drug problem on its own. Our countries need more trade and
investment," he said.

Fernandez also requested a temporary amnesty for thousands of Colombians
illegally in the United States. Temporary Protected Status (TPS) would
allow them to avoid deportation while they legalize their U.S. papers.