U.S. MUST CONTROL APPETITE FOR DRUGS, COLOMBIA LEADER SAYS

Clinton Due Today To Attend Summit

CARTAGENA, Colombia -- President Andres Pastrana said yesterday that
Colombia cannot put a dent in international drug trafficking until the
United States and other countries do more to control their peoples'
appetite for drugs.

"Colombia can put a stop to drugs here at some point, but if the demand
continues somebody else somewhere else in the world is going to produce
them," Pastrana said in an interview.

"What we are talking about is the most lucrative business in the world,
unless the recent spike in oil prices has made it the second-most-lucrative
business in the world."

Reducing the South American drug trade has proved a difficult and complex
matter, and drug-producing nations have long made the same contentions. But
Pastrana's wary words seemed to strike a dissonant note, coming on the eve
of President Clinton's arrival in Colombia today, when the leaders are to
open a $7.5 billion plan to address the spreading trafficking problem in
Colombia.

The joint plan aims to cut coca plantings in Colombia by 50 percent in five
years through a combination of military pressure, plant eradication and
social reforms.

Clinton's visit will be the first by a U.S. president in 11 years, and it
had been seen in Colombia as a triumph for Pastrana's presidency.

The plan includes $1.3 billion in aid to train and outfit a Colombian
anti-drug brigade to support police efforts in eradicating coca and in
halting the processing and shipment of coca and cocaine in two southern
provinces that are largely controlled by Colombia's largest guerrilla group.

Regional leaders have expressed fears that the plan will widen the
guerrilla war and spill refugees and coca plants across the Brazilian,
Ecuadorean and Peruvian borders. Clinton and Pastrana will attempt to
counter those concerns with clear public commitments for more alternative
agricultural development and with relief for coca growers who lose their
illegal livelihoods.

Clinton tried yesterday to ease local concerns about U.S. intervention.

In a videotaped message to Colombians, he said: "Please do not
misunderstand our purpose. We have no military objective.

"Let me be clear about the role of the United States. First, it is not for
us to propose a plan. We are supporting the Colombian plan."

Rising unemployment and stalled peace talks with Marxist rebel groups that
control large chunks of the nation where the drug industry is spreading
have made Pastrana an unpopular president. It is not easy to be optimistic
in a country where the government has lost control of half its territory
and 2 million people have been displaced.

Pastrana said the United States should play a more active role in the peace
efforts. State Department officials met with leaders of the country's
largest guerrilla group two years ago in Costa Rica, but all contacts were
broken after rebels killed three Americans last year and refused to turn
over any suspects.

Pastrana said the United States could go a long way toward helping him
revive a lagging economy by granting Colombia trade preferences. He
suggested that Colombia could join the United States, Mexico and Canada in
the North American Free Trade Agreement or that his country and the United
States could enter into the special trade relationship.