PLEASE HELP US, WIDOWS TELL CLINTON

CARTAGENA, Colombia (Reuters) - Diana Viveros broke down in sobs as she
told President Clinton how her husband was killed in Colombia's drug war.
``Please help us,'' she told him.

Carmen Elisa Nunez offered Clinton one of her most prized possessions -- a
medal won by her late husband.

They were two of a dozen widows and mothers of men who had died during
Colombia's fight against drug traffickers and rebels who spoke to Clinton
during his one-day visit to Colombia on Wednesday.

The widows were seated under a blue canopy to shield them from the hot sun.
Each woman took her turn to tell the president her story of how her husband
or son died in the line of duty.

Clinton listened intently as Colombian President Andres Pastrana translated
the stories, and offered his sympathy.

Some, like Viveros, could not hold back their tears.

``I came to help,'' said Clinton, in Cartagena to show the United States'
support for Colombia's struggle with drug traffickers and Marxist rebels.
``We have to make sure your husband did not die in vain.''

Clinton wiped away Yina Ruth Garcia's tears as she told how her husband had
died. She is six months pregnant. ``Remember my mother carried me as a
widow,'' Clinton told her.

Clinton's father William Blythe died in a car accident three months before
the future president was born.

Although protesters were burning him in effigy in other cities like the
capital Bogota, the women and many residents of Cartagena gave Clinton a
hero's welcome.

Nunez even presented the president with the Medal of Honor won by her late
husband, Army Captain Wilson Quintero.

Clinton said he would take the ribbon but she should keep the medal as a
keepsake. Nunez refused, pushing the box into Clinton's hands, telling him
her husband had won four.

``Thank you very much for coming,'' she said, telling Clinton that her
husband had died last year.

Pastrana said the celebrated case ``was one of the worst ever'' and said
the man had escaped from rebel kidnappers but then sought refuge with a
peasant sympathetic to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
rebel group who tortured and raped him.

``They tortured him, they violated him,'' Pastrana said.

Visibly moved, Clinton finally accepted the medal and held it close to his
chest.

``I will put this up in the White House,'' said Clinton, who was standing
with the speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, an
Illinois Republican.

A tearful Nunez later praised Clinton, saying: ``He is with us. The fight
is for all of us, Americans and Colombians.''

Thousands of Colombians in Cartagena appeared to agree, as they stood
lining the route of Clinton's motorcade waving white T-shirts or
handkerchiefs in an apparent call for peace.

Clinton's day had its lighter moments.

Just before departing for home, Clinton, his daughter Chelsea and the U.S.
entourage toured Cartagena's old city section and were entertained in the
street by a troupe of traditional folk dancers dressed in brightly colored
costumes.

Clinton, wearing a black-and-white straw hat, was inspired enough to wade
into the troupe and join in the dance, wiggling his hips and clapping his
hands.

Pastrana laughed nearby, wearing an identical hat.