CLINTON DEFENDS ANTI-DRUG AID TO COLOMBIA

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton on Wednesday defended his decision to
release $1.3 billion in anti-drug aid to Colombia as administration
officials sought to shift attention away from military assistance and
toward efforts to build civil institutions and wean peasants from drug
production.

Clinton said Colombia's ambitious program to combat the drug traffickers
and guerrilla groups that have destabilized the country needs "to have a
chance to succeed.".

A broad bipartisan majority in Congress approved the landmark aid package
in late June. Lawmakers imposed conditions intended to push Colombia to
improve its human rights record, but they authorized Clinton to waive the
conditions in the interests of national security.

On Friday, the State Department recommended that Clinton exercise his
waiver authority, saying the long-delayed funds are desperately needed to
bolster the government of Colombian President Andres Pastrana. Clinton
signed the waiver late Tuesday.

Clinton said Pastrana has promised to meet several of the criteria set by
Congress in coming weeks.

Other conditions, such as a promise to eliminate opium and coca production
by 2005, could be impossible to meet, he said.

The aid package contains more than $1 billion to train and equip Colombian
army and police forces engaged in the drug war.

But it also includes $120.5 million for nonmilitary development programs
administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development.