CLINTON SIGNS AID PACKAGE FOR COLOMBIA

President Clinton last night signed a waiver authorizing distribution of a
$1.3 billion aid package to help the Colombian government fight drug
traffickers even though it has not met all the human rights conditions set
by Congress, administration officials said.

The decision comes one week before Clinton is to make a one-day visit to
Colombia to demonstrate his support for President Andres Pastrana's efforts
to combat the country's drug trade, which is responsible for 90 percent of
the cocaine consumed in the United States. Clinton's signing of the waiver
is the final step in a year-long debate over how best to assist the
Pastrana government.

Congress approved Clinton's request for Colombia aid in July on a
bipartisan basis despite the opposition of human rights groups concerned
about human rights abuses by the Colombian military. The U.S. plan calls
for more than $1 billion to train and equip the Colombian army and police
forces, and includes delivery of 18 Black Hawk helicopters and 42 Huey 2
helicopters. The package also provides money aimed at promoting human
rights programs, judicial reform and economic development.

Bowing to concerns that the money would reward the Colombian military
despite its poor human rights record and ties to right-wing paramilitary
groups, Congress conditioned the package on the Colombian government
curbing rights abuses by the armed forces.

Among the conditions was a requirement that Pastrana issue a written
statement that military personnel accused of human rights abuses will be
brought to justice in the country's civilian courts. Pastrana issued that
statement last Wednesday.

"This is an important step," National Security Council spokesman P.J.
Crowley said. "It's saying military courts cannot be used to shield human
rights abusers from accountability."

Congressional critics of Colombia's human rights policies expressed
disappointment that the president would release the aid package, even
though his decision was widely anticipated. Some said they wished the
administration had pressed harder for human rights improvements.

"These conditions are nothing more than what the Colombian government said
they were prepared to do, and it is not too much to ask, given the risks
involved and the amount they are asking us to provide," said Sen. Patrick
J. Leahy (D-Vt.). "We need to see a consistent good faith effort [to curb
human rights abuses], and we don't even see that."

The Pastrana directive satisfied one of seven human rights criteria that
Congress said had to be met before the money could be released.

State Department officials said they expect two other criteria to be met
within the next several weeks. One would require the Colombian army
commander to suspend personnel alleged to have committed "gross violations
of human rights." The other would require the military to develop a judge
advocate general corps to investigate military misconduct. Other provisions
include demanding that the government prosecute leaders of paramilitary groups.

The State Department recommended Friday that Clinton waive the criteria
that could not be met on national security grounds – to free up the
money as soon as possible. "We think it's necessary to get the money out
now," a senior State Department official said. "We've already seen the
difficulty down there with the program because of delays."

The fact is, administration officials say, that the Colombian government
has not had sufficient time to meet all the conditions laid out by Congress.

Perhaps the toughest demand to meet is one calling for the elimination of
all coca and opium poppy by 2005, a requirement that conflicts with
Colombia's own plan calling for reducing coca production by half in the
same time period. That could be why, officials say, Republican supporters
of the aid package inserted the national security waiver provision.

Nonetheless, they said Pastrana, who was elected two years ago, has made
progress in fighting the drug trade, where his predecessors had not. He
has, for example, extradited three major narcotics traffickers – one
last week – to the United States to face prosecution here, senior
administration officials said.

And though administration officials say "serious" progress still needs to
be made in halting human rights abuses, they say Pastrana seems to be
heading in the right direction. He has already dismissed several generals
who allegedly have been involved in some of the worst atrocities. One of
them was reportedly involved in a series of massacres in the state of Norte
de Santander in which more than 200 people were killed in a three-month span.

Amid a backdrop of economic disarray, Pastrana is battling a long-running
internal conflict featuring powerful drug traffickers, right-wing
paramilitary groups and leftist guerrillas.

Clinton will visit Colombia on Aug. 30 to help bolster Pastrana's efforts.
He will be accompanied by Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and a
large bipartisan congressional delegation headed by House Speaker J. Dennis
Hastert (R-Ill.), a leading proponent of aiding Colombia's efforts to curb
drug trafficking.

Human rights organizations, which have held a series of meetings with
administration officials to discuss Colombia policy, warned that the
presidential waiver would reinforce the belief of elements in the country's
military that they can act with impunity.

"It's an extremely dangerous policy given the record of the Colombian armed
forces and its close ties to paramilitary groups," said Jose Miguel
Vivanco, director of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch. "It's not
in the best interest of the U.S. government to do business with the
Colombian military without real supervision of human rights."

Leahy warned that the Colombian government will face a "tougher standard"
next year when Congress is asked to approve the final part of the two-year,
$1.3 billion aid package.

"We're going to be monitoring it very closely," said Rep. Sam Farr
(D-Calif.). "We'll be watching Colombia. They can't screw it up. The usage
of this money will determine whether they get any more."

Leahy, among others, called attention to last week's attack by army troops
on a school hiking trip in northwestern Colombia that left six children
ages 8 to 10 dead as an example of Colombia's inability to rein in its
armed forces.

After initially blaming guerrillas for the deaths, the government announced
Saturday that it was investigating 25 soldiers and officers of the army's
Fourth Division in connection with the shootings. The army said the attack
occurred while army units were chasing insurgent rebels in the region.