CLINTON FIGHTING DRUGS IN COLOMBIA

Police search a resident for weapons in the outskirts of Cartagena,
Colombia, Tuesday ahead of President Clinton's visit. Clinton is meeting
with Colombian President Andres Pastrana to speed implementation of a $1.3
billion U.S. anti-narcotics aid package.
Credit: Zoe Selsky, AP

CARTAGENA, Colombia (AP) - In a show of solidarity, President Clinton
visited Colombia Wednesday with $1.3 billion in U.S. aid aimed at
propping up the South American nation's fight against drugs,
insurgents and recession.

His nine-hour visit was confined to the scenic Caribbean port city of
Cartagena, site of a major hemispheric drug summit 10 years ago and
far from the violence and poppy and coca fields that yield much of the
cocaine and heroin used in the United States.

Clinton's trip sought to boost Colombian President Andres Pastrana's
$7.5 billion initiative to ease the narco-traffickers' grip on his
nation, make peace with insurgents financed by drug profits, rev up
the economy and strengthen the justice system. He was accompanied by
his daughter, Chelsea, and a large delegation from Congress and the
administration. They were greeted by Pastrana on arrival.

``Colombia's democracy is under attack,'' Clinton said in an address
televised to Colombians on the eve of his visit. ``Profits from the
drug trade fund civil conflict. Powerful forces make their own law,
and you face danger every day.''

Clinton was spending all his time in Cartagena, a 467-year-old coastal
city with churches, monasteries and shaded plazas. Situated on the
northern tip of Colombia, Cartagena is 400 miles from the nation's
capital, Bogota, and farther still from the southern sections of the
country where guerillas and paramilitary groups rule.

His stay is short partly because of security concerns in a nation the
State Department calls one of the most violent in the world. Ninety
percent of the cocaine in the U.S. market and two-thirds of the heroin
on the East Coast comes from Colombia.

Clinton's visit includes a tour of the Port of Cartagena where he will
be briefed on drug-interdiction efforts, meet with Colombian National
Police and talk with widows of police officers who have been killed in
the line of duty.

Later, he will go to a low-income neighborhood to tour a Casa de
Justicia, one of 20 centers funded by the U.S. Agency for
International Development that gives Colombia's poor greater access to
the justice system. People can walk into these centers and see
ombudsmen, social workers, public defenders, mediators and others who
can help them resolve civil and criminal matters.

The idea is to bolster law and order in a country overrun by
lawlessness.

Pastrana himself was kidnapped by the Medellin drug cartel in the late
1980s and freed in a dramatic rescue. But besides fighting drug
traffickers, the one-time mayor of Bogota and former fellow at Harvard
University is trying to nudge the nation out of recession.

Economic growth declined 3.5 percent in 1999, although it was up by
2.2 percent in the first quarter of this year. Unemployment reached 20
percent in mid-1999, but is on the decline.

Elected on a peace platform, Pastrana also is trying to negotiate an
end to hostilities with Marxist guerillas and right-wing paramilitary
groups. In conflict with the state for 36 years, both engage in
kidnapping and other acts of violence against citizens, foreigners,
the government and commercial installations, such as oil pipelines.

``This is a very tough place,'' said Sandy Berger, Clinton's national
security adviser. ``I think we can either ... help Colombia in its
effort to deal with that problem, or stand back and let Colombian
democracy collapse.''

The U.S. part of Pastrana's ``Plan Colombia'' is aimed at helping the
Colombian military take control of cocaine-producing regions held by
the guerrillas and paramilitary groups. The U.S. assistance includes
funds for 60 combat helicopters and training for the Colombian
military, plus money for building schoolrooms, water systems and
roads, judicial reform and protecting human rights.

Last week, Clinton waived conditions for the release of the U.S. aid
that are aimed at overcoming military abuses and bringing human rights
violators to justice. The decision prompted protests from human rights
groups and some lawmakers, including Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. ``There
will be tough questions when they come back to Congress this fall for
the next installment,'' he said.

The United States is providing the Black Hawk and Huey helicopters and
training to support a military push into Southern jungles where
guerillas and the militias take payoffs to protect peasant drug plots
and traffickers' airstrips and labs.

U.S. officials insist that Washington is not being embroiled in a
Vietnam-style civil conflict. They say, however, that U.S.-trained
troops and equipment will be used against guerrillas who try to block
efforts to eradicate drug crops and destroy labs.

Ivan Rios, a commander of the most powerful guerrilla group known as
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, has vowed to resist what
he calls ``U.S. aggression.''

On the Net:

State Department: www.state.gov/www/regions/wha/index.html