A RISKY AMERICAN COURSE IN COLOMBIA

Colombia's President, Andres Pastrana, deserves American support for
his efforts to reduce drug production and trafficking and begin peace
negotiations with Marxist guerrillas. Mr. Pastrana's political
position is shaky at the moment, and President Clinton's visit to the
port of Cartagena today may help reinforce it. But the Clinton trip
will also inaugurate a misguided expansion of American support to
Colombia's security forces.

Colombia's army and police are fighting a simultaneous war against
drug producers and Marxist guerrillas who now control as much as half
of the country's territory. It is unrealistic to imagine that the $1.3
billion aid package, most of it to supply 60 military helicopters and
train a new army anti-narcotics brigade, will only be used against the
drug traffickers and not also against the guerrillas who provide them
with armed protection.

There is nothing wrong with Washington helping an elected democratic
government combat a brutal armed insurgency. But this particular
guerrilla conflict, which has been raging for decades, has reached a
military stalemate and needs to be resolved at the negotiating table.
Delivering close to $1 billion in American military aid does not seem
the best way to encourage both sides to talk peace.

Colombia's army has a terrible record of violating human rights.
Regrettably, the House stripped the aid legislation of safeguards to
improve military professionalism, and Mr. Clinton unwisely waived one
of the remaining human rights provisions to let aid begin flowing
immediately.

The aid package contains some good features, including nearly $240
million for human rights training, judicial reform and programs
promoting alternative economic activities for peasants now making
their living from drug cultivation. It will be up to Mr. Clinton's
successor to see that American aid is used to promote peace and
development, not to draw Washington into an endless guerrilla war.