CASS BALLENGER AND COLOMBIA

When President Clinton arrives in the chaotic country Wednesday, our own
Cass Ballenger will be watching.

When President Clinton arrives in Colombia on Wednesday to meet with
President Andres PasWtrana, one local man will be paying close attention.
That man is U.S. Rep. Cass Ballenger, R-Hickory, a member of the House
Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs.

Ballenger is particularly interested in Colombia, his press secretary, Ted
Brennan, tells us. He has visited the country four times in the past two
years, Brennan said, most recently this month, when he met with Pastrana.

What makes Clinton's visit and Ballenger's interest so important is a
little matter having to do with taxpayers' money: about $1.3 billion of it.
That's the money the United States plans to funnel to governments of
countries that export drugs to the U.S.

About a billion of it goes to Colombia, a country in northwestern South
America that is a leading producer of cocaine. The nation has a democracy
of sorts, one tested by an insurgency waged by a handful of murderous
left-wing bands that profit from the coca trade.

Ballenger supports the aid package, Brennan said: "It's one of the most
significant packages to aid another nation in our hemisphere."

The plan has attracted criticism. Some fault it for being directed at
eradicating the coca plant, the basis of cocaine. Farmers will simply move
to another area, the critics suggest. No matter what, cocaine will still
reach the greedy nostrils of American drug abusers.

The United States has tried eradication before in Latin America, with
spotty success. Thus Americans, particularly those of us in the 10th
Congressional District of North Carolina, will be watching to see if this
plan works.