WIDER VIEW OF COLOMBIA'S CRISIS

Colombian President Andres Pastrana was among the first foreign
dignitaries to visit Washington under the new administration, spending
four days late last month discussing his nation's seemingly
intractable drug and guerrilla troubles with President Bush and
members of Congress. What Pastrana sought was assurance that the
so-called Plan Colombia endorsed by the Clinton administration and
backed with $1.3 billion in U.S. assistance will be supported.

What Washington most wanted from Colombia was assurance that U.S.
military aid would not drag American soldiers into an Andean war. Bush
himself said he does not want U.S. troops to go beyond their current
role of training the Colombian armed forces.

The depth of Colombia's woes is daunting.

Without the military support that the United States brings to the
drug/guerrilla war, neither the Colombian police nor the armed forces
would stand much chance. Modernization of the government's arsenal is
the only possible counter to the sophisticated weaponry the drug gangs
can buy.

But adding a few more helicopters to the anti-narcotics fight in
Colombia will not squelch the cartels or their ideologically driven
guerrilla allies.

The drug dealers can move to a nearby country, a prospect raising
serious concern across the region--in Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela,
Bolivia and Brazil. The best response from Washington would be a
regional strategy that, as a start, invites neighboring nations to
discuss how to prevent drug cartels from moving in under pressure from
U.S. military assistance in Colombia.

The announcement that the Bush administration will push for lowering
trade barriers by renewing the Andean Trade Preference Act, which
otherwise would expire in December, is good news for the region.

The U.S. should also bring the European Union into regional
discussions. An expected EU contribution to Colombia's efforts fell
far short because the Europeans did not like the U.S. approach but
also because they were not properly consulted.

A group of mostly Latin American nations has been working with the
Colombian government and the guerrillas to come up with a peace plan.
Instead of rejecting participation out of hand, as Bush initially did,
the U.S. should seriously consider the invitation of the Colombian
government to join at some level in March 8 peace talks between the
FARC guerrillas and the government, alongside Mexico, Cuba, Brazil,
Venezuela and a representative of the European Union. It might even
begin the process of drawing the guerrillas away from their criminal
allies.