COLOMBIA GIVEN VOW OF SUPPORT

Clinton Aims To Stay Out Of Shooting War

CARTAGENA, Colombia -- Amid tight security and violent protests,
President Clinton Wednesday pledged lasting support for Colombia's
fight against drug traffickers but insisted that U.S. troops would not
be drawn into a Vietnam-style quagmire.

"We are not going to get into a shooting war. This is not Vietnam,"
Clinton said at a news conference midway through his half-day visit to
this port city on Colombia's Caribbean coast.

Clinton's trip came just two months after the U.S. Congress approved a
$1.3 billion aid package to fight drug trafficking in the Andean
nations.

The bulk of the aid consists of 60 helicopters and training for three
anti-narcotics army battalions that will push into guerrilla-
controlled, drug-producing zones in southern Colombia.

Critics warn that the aid may be the first step toward direct U.S.
intervention in this nation's 36-year war involving the army, leftist
guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries. Colombian President Andres
Pastrana, who also spoke at the news conference, rejected the prospect
of a larger U.S. role in the war.

"As long as Andres Pastrana is president of Colombia, there will be no
foreign intervention," he said.

Despite the official good will, Clinton's visit was marred by a bomb
scare and deadly protests.

Thousands of students and workers clashed with police Wednesday and
burned effigies of Clinton and Pastrana outside the U.S. Embassy in the
capital city of Bogota.

Elsewhere, an 18-year-old policeman was killed by a homemade bomb
during clashes with students at the main gates of Bogota's National
University.

In Cartagena, police arrested two alleged Marxist rebels as they were
setting up a 4.4 pound bomb 400 yards from a building Clinton visited
later in the day.

A senior police source said the men were captured in a house in
Cartagena's working-class neighborhood as they hooked up a detonator to
the device packed with dynamite. The source said the bomb was designed
to "cause panic but not huge damage."

Still, many Colombians seemed pleased with Clinton's visit. Residents
lined the streets of Cartagena and waved tiny Colombian flags as they
waited for the presidential motorcade to pass by.

What's more, Clinton's trip focused on the least-controversial aspects
of the U.S. aid package, which includes millions of dollars for drug
interdiction operations and support for human rights and justice
programs in Colombia.

After greeting Pastrana and his family at Cartagena's international
airport Wednesday morning, Clinton toured the Port of Cartagena, where
Colombian police and customs agents explained how they had intercepted
tons of cocaine bound for Europe and the United States during recent
operations.

Clinton spent a moment petting a drug-sniffing dog, then greeted 11
widows of police officers slain in the fight against drug traffickers
and guerrillas.

The trip was the first by a U.S. president to Colombia since George
Bush arrived here 10 years ago for an anti-drug summit. As a result, it
was a stark reminder that past U.S. policies have failed to stem the
flow of narcotics out of Colombia.

Despite the dismantling of the Medellin and Cali cartels in the 1990s,
smaller organizations have filled the vacuum and sought the protection
of FARC rebels.

The CIA estimates that Colombia produced a record 520 metric tons of
cocaine last year and six metric tons of heroin. The South American
nation supplies 90 percent of the cocaine and more than half of the
heroin sold on U.S. streets.

Clinton insisted that U.S. policies can be effective.

"I believe this will work because I think this president and this
government are willing to take the risks necessary to make it work,"
Clinton said.

Others suspect that Clinton's visit was mainly a show of support for
Pastrana, who has fallen in the opinion polls because of a prolonged
economic recession and a surge in political violence and kidnappings.

Pastrana called Clinton's visit a "historic moment" that marks a high-
water mark in U.S.-Colombian relations. The two-year $1.3 billion U.S.
aid package makes Colombia the third largest recipient of U.S. aid
after Israel and Egypt.

"The journey now begins," said Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., who assured
Pastrana that there will be bipartisan congressional support for
Colombian aid even after Clinton leaves office in January. "We are in
this for the long haul."

Reuters news service contributed to this story.