COLOMBIA AID PACKAGE LOSES A KEY SUPPORTER

Congressman Objects to Funding of Military

Rep. Benjamin Gilman, chairman of the House International Relations
Committee, has abruptly withdrawn his support from the decision to
funnel $1.3 billion in mostly military aid to Colombia, arguing that
the United States is on the brink of a "major mistake." Gilman,
R-N.Y., sent a letter this week to the White House drug policy
coordinator, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, contending that the U.S. plan to
increase the role of the Colombian military in the drug fight will
end disastrously because the military has undermined its political
support with a history of corruption and human rights abuses. That
position echoes other critics of the plan.

Gilman called on the Clinton administration to redirect its
assistance, including at least 40 Black Hawk helicopters, from the
military to the national police in Colombia. Gilman has long admired
the police, which he views as more effective and less tainted by
human rights violations.

Last summer, Gilman voted to support Plan Colombia, a $7.5 billion
strategy drafted jointly by American and Colombian officials and
passed by Congress. In addition to the military spending, the program
allocates money to promote alternative crops, economic renewal and
human rights. The plan seeks to halve drug production over five years
in Colombia, which reportedly is the source of most of the cocaine
and heroin that enters the United States.

Congressional sources said Gilman was troubled by recent military
failures in rural areas where rebel forces operate.

It is unclear what effects, if any, Gilman's shift will have. A
Senate Republican aide who follows Colombia closely said it was "far
too early" to criticize the plan. Gilman is expected to relinquish
his chairmanship next year because of term limits.

Critics of Plan Colombia have argued that the military aid would
merely intensify the conflict in which two rebel groups have joined
forces with narcotics traffickers against the government, a conflict
that could eventually draw the United States directly into fighting
the rebels.

The administration has promised to watch over the military's record
on human rights. A spokesman for McCaffrey, Robert Weiner, said
yesterday that denying aid to the military on the basis of its past
performance would ensure defeat.

A high-ranking official in President Andres Pastrana's government
defended the military involvement on the grounds that the drug war
has fundamentally changed in the last five years.

"It used to be an urban drug war, which the police were very capable
of handling," the official said. "It has now become a drug war fought
in the jungles, and you can't do that without military support."