CLINTON GIVES A BOOST TO COLOMBIA DRUG WAR

He Leads A Large U.S. Delegation On Visit

CARTAGENA, Colombia - President Bill Clinton arrived here Wednesday along
with a large delegation of U.S. cabinet and congressional officials
designed to demonstrate strong bipartisan support for President Andres
Pastrana and his battle with Colombia's drug traffickers and 40-year-old
guerrilla war.

Having returned to Washington only the day before from a four-day African
tour, a tieless and jacketless Mr. Clinton appeared weary as he stepped off
Air Force One and into coastal Cartagena's wilting heat with his daughter,
Chelsea, on his arm.

Virtually the entire Colombian government came from Bogota to meet Mr.
Clinton and the heads of his White House staff along with Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright, and Attorney General Janet Reno and an 11-member
congressional delegation headed by the House speaker, Dennis Hastert,
Republican of Illinois.

With his wife, defense minister and armed forces chief at his side, Mr.
Pastrana, in a short-sleeved pink shirt and sunglasses, greeted the
president. The emphasis in both delegations was on informality as an
indication of the closeness of the bilateral relationship, and in
recognition of the temperature of 32 degrees centigrade (90 degrees
Fahrenheit) or higher.

Cartagena has been blanketed by security this week. The city's 500-strong
force has been supplemented by 1,000 additional police officers, while Mr.
Pastrana's personal security force and several thousand Colombian soldiers
and sailors have been patrolling offshore, overhead with helicopters and
through the narrow, winding streets of this 16th-century Spanish city.

Although Cartagena was calm, numerous bombings were recorded overnight in
Colombia's other major cities, with responsibility claimed by the two major
leftist guerrilla groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and
the National Liberation Army.

Both have denounced Mr. Clinton's visit and the aid program he has brought.
Most of the aid comes in the form of military equipment and training to
augment Colombian army and police force efforts to eradicate coca and poppy
production in the south of the country.

The guerrillas, who derive much of their income from taxing drug
traffickers whose fields and cocaine and heroin labs they protect, have
accused the United States of interfering in their decades-long war against
the government and of launching a military intervention they charge will
lead to "Vietnamization" in Colombia.

Mr. Clinton and his delegation planned to spend eight hours on the ground.
After arrival ceremonies at the Cartagena airport, the U.S. and Colombian
delegations headed toward Cartagena's port, where a local business
coalition has undergone a long and largely successful fight against contraband.

After a brief, walk through the central city, the U.S. delegation was
scheduled to return home Wednesday night.