OFFICIALS SAY COLOMBIA NEEDS LONG TERM COMMITMENT FROM U.S.

The implementation of the $1.3 billion Colombian aid package is daunting
and will take up to 10 years to show major results, a former top-level drug
policy official said Friday.

U.S. government officials would like a quick fix to Colombia's drug and
security problems but they must be patient, said Ana Maria Salazar, former
deputy assistant secretary of defense for drug enforcement policy and support.

Salazar, who resigned from her post nearly three weeks ago, addressed a
large gathering of academics, diplomats and defense experts at a conference
in Miami. The conference focused on Plan Colombia, a U.S.-Colombian
initiative aimed at weakening insurgent groups and stopping drug trafficking.

"What is most frustrating is that we're not going to be able to show
results in the short-term," said Salazar, currently a professor of national
security issues at the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico.

The conference comes at a critical time for the Colombia government. On
Wednesday, President Andres Pastrana challenged Colombia's top guerrilla
leader to a face-to-face meeting to salvage peace talks, and extended a
controversial rebel safe haven through Sunday. The Andean nation is
embroiled in a 37-year conflict with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia, or FARC.

Despite the country's turmoil, Salazar said the government has been able to
take positive steps, destroying coca crops and extraditing drug offenders.
But significant reforms to the country's judicial and political system will
take longer to enact, she added.

The majority of the United States' $1.3 billion contribution to the plan
will go toward strengthening Colombia's military and counter-drug
operations. A smaller portion has been set aside for governmental reforms
and alternative development, giving coca farmers incentives to grow legal
crops.

Salazar said alternative development is important, but should not be given
as much attention as judicial and political reforms. Coca fields will be
eradicated whether or not the farmers agree to stop growing the narcotic,
she said.

"The Colombians who have legal cultivations are not going to get the
support or the benefit of their government," Salazar said.

The money would be better used to support judges and prosecutors, she said.
They are constantly threatened by drug traffickers, insurgents and
paramilitary groups.

Retired drug czar Barry McCaffrey addressed the challenges facing Colombia
during a keynote speech Thursday. McCaffrey praised the Colombian military
and police for their courage during chaotic times.

In recent years, nearly 25,000 Colombians have been murdered, said Juan
Esteban Orduz, deputy chief of mission at the Colombian embassy in Washington.

McCaffrey, who is currently teaching at the U.S. Military Academy at West
Point, said he was "optimistic" that the George W. Bush administration
would be a friend to Colombia. He said Bush's Cabinet would make Latin
America a priority.

General Alvaro Valencia, who commanded the Colombia Army in the mid-1970s,
agreed that President Bush would support Plan Colombia, but said he might
suggest minor changes.

Colombia is also facing a change in administration. President Andres
Pastrana, who worked closely with the United States on the plan, will
finish his term in August 2002. Valencia said the next Colombian president
would have to go along with the initiative since it has already been put in
place.

The conference was sponsored by the University of Miami's North-South
Center and the U.S. Army War College.