IN VISIT TO COLOMBIA, CLINTON DEFENDS U.S. OUTLAY

CARTAGENA, Colombia, Aug. 30 -- President Clinton made a one-day visit
today to this secure oasis of Colombia to lend backing to the nation's
counternarcotics program. He insisted that the $1.3 billion in military aid
that Washington recently agreed to is limited to the drug fight, not
directed toward ending the government's decades-long battle with rebel groups.

"This is not Vietnam," Mr. Clinton said, "nor is it Yankee imperialism."

He was reacting to critics at home and in and around Colombia who fear the
consequences of an growing fight to stop the drug traffickers of Colombia,
who supply 90 percent of the cocaine and most of the heroin that enters the
United States.

Accompanied by Republican and Democratic lawmakers, Mr. Clinton said the
United States was helping Colombia with its $7.5 billion five-year program
to destroy much of its drug crop, root out traffickers and rebuild its
judiciary and other government operations. Part of those funds are coming
from Europe and international agencies.

But Mr. Clinton said continuing support would depend on the Bogota
government's breaking ties with paramilitary groups and adhering to strict
human rights standards.

In the hours before Mr. Clinton arrived, rebels bombed three banks,
blockaded a road east of Bogota and engaged in skirmishes with government
troops, the authorities said.

Protesters also were active. In Bogota, a riot policeman was killed at a
university, and a protest outside the American Embassy also turned violent.
In Cartegena, the police said they had arrested three men who had bomb
materials in a house six blocks from one of Mr. Clinton's stops.

The president urged the country's neighbors to stand by Colombia in its
struggle against the drug trade, even if they suffer from an overflow of
refugees, coca growers and guerrillas. Some of those neighbors are worried
about the American attack helicopters and military advisers headed here.
Rebel activity has increased since Congress voted the aid.

"If you really say Colombia can't attack this in an aggressive way because
there will be some negative consequences on our border," Mr. Clinton said,
"the logical conclusion is that all the cancer of narco-trafficking and
lawless violence in this entire vast continent should rest on the shoulders
and burden the children of this one nation. And that's just not right."

Mr. Clinton, the first president to visit Colombia in 10 years, toured one
of the main ports used by smugglers, and, with President Andres Pastrana
acting as a translator, held emotional meetings with a dozen wives and
mothers of slain soldiers and drug agents.

"Please help us," Diana Viveros, a widow, pleaded to the president, sobbing
and clutching his hand. Mr. Clinton looked her in the eyes and said: "I
came to help. We have to make sure your husband did not die in vain."

Tears streamed down the face of Yina Torres, a pregnant woman whose
husband, a soldier, was struck down in the drug war. "Remember, my mother
carried me as a widow," Mr. Clinton said to console her, words that caused
her to sob deeply. The president wiped the tears from her face and gave her
a hug.

It was the president who became choked up when Carmen Elisa Nunez handed
him a medal that her husband had won for his heroics.

The army captain had escaped from rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia last year but was tortured and later killed by them when caught.

"I will put this up in the White House," the president said of the medal.

The meetings were arranged by Mr. Pastrana, who in his two years in office
has cooperated closely with the United States, and were intended to show
the depth of the government's struggle against drug lords and rebels.

Mr. Pastrana, addressing the concerns of human rights groups, vowed to
continue to press for improvements in the government's performance. He
asked for time, though, to revamp his army and police force. "We are asking
the rest of the world to understand the complexities we have in this
country," he said.

At Mr. Clinton's side for much of the day was J. Dennis Hastert, the
Republican speaker of the House, and other lawmakers who voted to back Mr.
Pastrana's "Plan Colombia."

"We share a great burden," Mr. Hastert told the Colombian president, noting
that thousands of people in the United States and thousands more in
Colombia die every year as a result of drug abuse and violence.

At the port of Cartagena, the entourage of United States officials viewed a
high-speed boat used by narcotics agents to intercept smugglers at sea and
a submarine-like vehicle used by the traffickers.

Strolling at the water's edge, Mr. Clinton stopped to pet a drug-sniffing
dog and inspect a variety of hidden compartments used to smuggle drugs.
"Very clever," he remarked as a captain with the Colombian Navy showed him
a boat battery that doubled as a cocaine hideaway.

Mr. Clinton also visited a Casa de Justicia, one of the United
States-financed centers aimed at rebuilding the tattered criminal justice
system across Colombia.

There was extraordinary security in place for Mr. Clinton's visit, the
first by an American president since President Bush made a similar trip 10
years ago. Cartegena is a tourist haven and one of Colombia's safest
cities, unlike the capital, Bogota, and various cities where drug cartels
rule. Similarly, Mr. Clinton spent part of last week in Nigeria in the new
capital, Abuja, avoiding the tumult of Lagos, the largest city.

In Bogota today, union and student groups protested the president's visit,
on the ground that the nation's war will just go on longer with the new
aid. A police spokesman said 20 people have been killed since early
Tuesday, including 11 civilians, 3 guerrillas and 6 police officers.

The riot policeman was killed in the capital when hooded students threw a
home-made explosive during running battles outside the National University.