CLINTON'S COLOMBIA TRIP SAID TO HERALD NEW ERA IN TIES

CARTAGENA, Colombia, Aug. 28 -- President Clinton is about to raise the
curtain on a new era in United States-Colombia relations with a visit
to this Caribbean port on Wednesday, and the acts that follow will
probably include shooting at Marxist guerrillas by American-supplied
helicopters. The visit is all the more important because it comes at a
time when the government here has been weakened politically, and peace
negotiations with guerrilla groups have stalled.

In Cartagena, Mr. Clinton will visit a new United States-financed
community justice center, walk the stone streets of the walled colonial
center to greet pedestrians, give encouraging handshakes to Colombian
customs officials and offer condolences to the widows of policemen who
have died in combat with the rebels who make money off the drug trade.

The series of burnished photo opportunities, along with a private
meeting with President Andres Pastrana, will symbolize a dramatic
departure from a relationship with Colombia that has been cool, if not
hostile, in recent years. Only three years ago, the previous Colombian
president could not get a United States visa because there was evidence
that he received a campaign contribution from the Cali drug cartel.

Such embarrassing official ties to the cocaine and heroin trade were a
major reason why no United States president has set foot on Colombian
soil in nearly 11 years. But Mr. Clinton will break that spell with his
eight-hour stop here, along with the House speaker, Dennis Hastert, a
Republican, and other senior members of Congress from both parties.

"Colombia has become a first-tier foreign policy issue, and this trip
will show that," said Arturo Valenzuela, the top Latin America analyst
for the National Security Council. "The president wants to make sure
that the bipartisan consensus on Colombia that has developed in the
last months of his administration continues on after he leaves office."

Despite the trip's brevity, Colombian officials are placing great
symbolic importance on the event since it is the kickoff of their $7.5
billion "Plan Colombia." The plan is intended to strengthen the central
government's presence throughout the provinces with better courts, aid
to peasants displaced by fighting and alternative development projects
for farmers dependent on growing coca. The government has lost control
of nearly half of its territory to guerrillas and drug traffickers.

The United States part of the plan is a $1.3 billion aid program
recently approved by Congress. It includes 60 military helicopters and
training for a new anti-narcotics army brigade to support police
efforts in eradicating coca fields. Last Tuesday, Mr. Clinton waived
several human rights conditions put on the aid program by Congress,
declaring Colombia a national security priority.

"It's a moment to display our new alliance," Colombia's foreign
minister, Guillermo Fernandez de Soto, said in an interview last week.
"This visit will show that we have passed from one era in which the
United States did not recognize the dimensions of Colombia's problems
into another in which the United States is ready to put teeth into an
effort that we must make together."

Colombian officials have told the White House that Mr. Pastrana would
like a strong endorsement from Mr. Clinton for the stalled efforts to
negotiate a settlement with two guerrilla groups. He will also press
for special trade agreements to help Colombia's ailing textile industry
and an exception for Cartagena in the State Department's warning that
it is dangerous for American tourists to travel in Colombia.

For United States officials, the visit will highlight for the American
public the importance of helping South America's second-largest country
to fight a drug trade that produces 90 percent of the cocaine and about
a quarter of the heroin that enter the United States. And American
officials hope to underscore that Mr. Pastrana, a Conservative Party
leader who took office two years ago, is making a strong effort to
break with past corruption.

The United States has steadily increased its anti-narcotics assistance
to Colombia during Mr. Clinton's second term, to $300 million this year
from $65 million in 1996. But even though aerial spraying to kill coca
crops has increased, coca cultivation mushroomed by 20 percent in 1999,
after a 28 percent increase in 1998, says a State Department report.

Success in the so-called war on drugs is often fleeting, and the
deepening United States role in Colombia is not without risks,
especially if the guerrillas decide to shoot at the United States-
supplied helicopters.

In fact, the Clinton administration's experience in Colombia so far is
that any escalation is bound to have unpredictable consequences. After
the Drug Enforcement Administration and the C.I.A. helped the Colombian
police break up the Cali drug cartel in the mid 1990's with arrests of
its top leaders, smaller trafficking organizations took its place.
Those smaller organizations sought the protection of the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia, the country's largest rebel group.

Mr. Clinton will press Mr. Pastrana to complement the new military anti-
narcotics offensive against those groups in the south with civilian aid
programs to avert a refugee problem that could add fighters to the
guerrilla ranks and spread the conflict to neighboring countries.
American officials say Mr. Clinton will emphasize the importance of
holding local elections in the southern provinces, improving the human
rights record of the armed forces, providing jobs for refugees and
promoting alternative development projects for peasants who currently
grow coca.

"President Clinton wants to put his arm around President Pastrana's
shoulder and demonstrate our support," said Peter Romero, acting
assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs, "but also our
expectations that a lot of work needs to be done."

The Colombian government has a large security presence in Cartagena to
protect the two presidents and their large delegations. Colombia police
officials say that at least 5,500 troops and police officers will be
here, and army units will guard the periphery of the city.

Colombia has 4 navy frigates and 18 patrol boats in the waters
surrounding Cartagena, and 6 military helicopters will patrol the skies
over the Clinton delegation. Undercover police officers are patrolling
the streets, and electronic cameras and high-powered microphones have
been placed atop buildings for surveillance.

The Army of National Liberation, Colombia's second-largest rebel group,
said it would step up attacks on highway transportation in response to
the Clinton visit. The larger rebel group has promised not to interfere
with the visit, even while sharply criticizing the growing American
role here.

Alfonso Cano, a senior commander of the group, told Colombian reporters
that Mr. Clinton "will carry suitcases full of the dollars necessary
for Colombians to continue killing each other indefinitely." He added,
"That's why he is not welcome."