COLOMBIA READIES FOR CLINTON

CARTAGENA, Colombia, Aug. 29 - As a student of U.S. politics, Colombian
President Andres Pastrana knows the importance of bipartisan
support--particularly in a U.S. government with different parties in charge
of Congress and the White House.

"It's important to show that the [U.S.] anti-drug policy is a bipartisan
policy," Pastrana said in an interview today. Other than a brief private
meeting with President Clinton, all events during Wednesday's presidential
visit here will include the 11-member congressional delegation that will
accompany the president aboard Air Force One.

At the head of the group are House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and
Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee.

The large delegation also offers Pastrana an opportunity to twist arms on a
subject nearly as important to him--perhaps more important in the long
run--than the $1.3 billion U.S. anti-drug aid package that Clinton will
symbolically deliver. "This is an opportunity to work toward a trade
agreement with the United States that we can complete before the end of the
year," Pastrana said.

Although Colombia's dire economic situation has improved somewhat since
last year, Pastrana would like to cement his country's ever closer
relationship with the United States with an accord that would give
Colombian products easier access to U.S. markets. Bogota failed this year
to become included in the revamping of the U.S. Caribbean Basin Initiative.
If Bogota cannot be grandfathered into that free-trade accord, Pastrana
said, he is "looking for a bilateral trade agreement" or admission into the
North American Free Trade Agreement.

Clinton, in a speech broadcast tonight to the Colombian people, did not
mention trade. He touched on more immediate issues involving the anti-drug
aid package that has been the subject of popular concern and, Pastrana and
Clinton agree, confusion here over what is widely considered a plan for
increased U.S. military assistance against armed guerrilla groups
threatening the Colombian government.

While nearly 80 percent of the U.S. package will pay for military equipment
and training to counter drug trafficking, both governments argue that it
remains only a small part of an overall $7.5 billion package--called Plan
Colombia--funded by Colombia and other nations to help peasant coca and
poppy growers switch to other crops and to strengthen Colombia's democratic
institutions.

Clinton acknowledged U.S. interest in stemming the traffic that floods the
United States with cocaine and heroin and funds left-wing guerrillas and
right-wing paramilitary groups here. But, he said, "please do not
misunderstand our purpose. We have no military objective. We do not believe
your conflict has a military solution. We support the peace process. Our
approach is both pro-peace and anti-drug."

The largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or
FARC, has denounced what it calls U.S. military intervention in its war
against the government. But Pastrana said "the FARC has nothing to fear
from Plan Colombia. They say they're not involved in drug trafficking . . .
that they're against drug trafficking. Plan Colombia is against drug
trafficking. So if they mean what they say, they have nothing to fear."

The FARC has said it is willing to eradicate coca crops in the
Switzerland-sized zone it occupies in south-central Colombia. "Here's a
proposal for them," Pastrana said. "They have said they're willing to
eradicate drugs. . . . Why don't they start in the zone?"

Responding to charges from U.S. and Colombian human rights groups that the
Colombian military should be ineligible for U.S. aid because of its record
of human rights abuses and paramilitary ties, Pastrana said progress has
been made, and more is coming. "We have the facts and the figures to show
we have moved forward," he said. "We know we have a lot more to do."

In addition to pledging more military pressure against the paramilitary
groups, he said his government is prepared to pursue Colombian civilians
who finance them.

"It's not only that there are relations between some in the military and
the paramilitary groups," Pastrana said. "The problem is who is paying for
them. We're going to go after those who are financing them and hold them
responsible, too."

Despite the size of the U.S. delegation--which includes Secretary of State
Madeleine K. Albright and Attorney General Janet Reno--Clinton will spend
only eight hours in Cartagena. In addition to the government meetings,
members of the delegation will visit the city's port, where they will meet
with widows of police officers and soldiers killed in action.

Before leaving, the delegation will walk a block or two through the
16th-century city, ending at the central Plaza Bolivar. Workers and
painters putting the finishing touches on Cartagena's cleanup jostled there
today with Colombian police officers and U.S. agents who are part of a vast
security operation to protect Clinton.