COLOMBIA REBELS' ATTACKS ON POLICE PUT HEAT ON U.S.-SUPPLIED AIRCRAFT

Helicopters Are Intended To Fight Drug Traffickers

PASCA, Colombia - Standing behind a wall of sandbags amid the rubble of a
blown-up police station, officer Jose Borney Trujillo nervously surveys the
forested mountains where leftist rebels roam virtually unimpeded.

Word has come to this tiny police outpost that Colombia's biggest rebel
group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, executes policemen
captured after attacks.

During the first half of this year, rebels killed 120 police, many of them
in overwhelming attacks on remote outposts.

The dozen police in Pasca, a two-hour drive southwest of the capital,
Bogota, fear they will be next. They say that without reinforcements, they
would be overrun and probably killed.

"We are aware that if the guerrillas come in here, they will kill us all.
We won't be able to surrender and ask for mercy," Borney said Wednesday.

Whether reinforcements save them could depend on the interpretation of an
agreement that sent powerful U.S.-made combat helicopters to Colombia.
Washington donated the helicopters to fight rebels and others who protect
drug crops. But they are not supposed to be used in ordinary combat in
Colombia's 36-year guerrilla war.

The rebels have overrun Pasca three times, most recently in July 1994, when
they killed a police sergeant and wounded a patrolman, then dynamited the
police station and jail.

"It is very dangerous here," said Borney, 25, as he unslung a Galil assault
rifle from his shoulder and peered into the mist-shrouded mountains. "We've
been hearing more gunfire coming from over there in the last few weeks. The
rebels are letting us know they're around."

A trench has been dug in the rubble. A new police station stands next door.
From there, the green-uniformed national police investigate robberies,
assaults and other common crimes. But they are crippled by the hostile
environment surrounding them.

"This affects our work 100 percent," said patrolman Anderson Smith Certuche.

The policemen never go on patrol or to crime scenes with fewer than five
officers. Their area of responsibility extends several miles outside town,
but they don't dare venture out more than a few hundred yards.

Doing otherwise would make them an easy target for ambush or for a hidden
gunman.

"It is good to have the police here, but someone really should send more of
them," said Meri de Morales, who runs a small general store down the
narrow, pitted street from the police station.

Human rights monitors critical of the rebels' attacks on police point out
that many officers, like those in Pasca, are not involved in anti-guerrilla
operations.

The Pasca police spend much of the day hunkered down in their brick
building, which is laced with chicken wire to repel hand grenades. A
cartoon bird with the message "Say NO to drugs" is painted on the wall outside.

The officers say they could fend off a large assault for several hours, but
that reinforcements would have to arrive quickly.

It would take hours for additional government forces to reach Pasca on
foot. By truck would be faster, but rebels often mine roads leading to
besieged towns or set up ambushes.

Rescue from the air is the best hope. Tolemaida military base, where U.S.
special forces have been training army counternarcotics troops, is about a
five-minute flight away.

U.S.-made Huey and Black Hawk helicopters are often there, but whether they
would come is uncertain. Last month, U.S.-supplied helicopters were not
used to rescue 13 besieged police officers northwest of Bogota. They
eventually surrendered and were allegedly executed by the rebels.

In a subsequent rebel assault, the helicopters were used to ferry in
reinforcements.

After the killings, U.S. Ambassador Curtis W. Kamman said the helicopters
could be used "to defend the police and military forces if they are under
attack in a zone where there are anti-narcotics activities." That is a
definition some fear would mean deeper U.S. involvement in Colombia's
intractable war, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives since it
began in the 1960s.

Sen. Paul Wellstone, a Minnesota Democrat, said recently that the problem
is likely to persist.

"It's very unclear what's counternarcotics and what's counterinsurgency.
We're going to have, over and over and over again, many examples like
this," he said.

Even if the donated aircraft aren't used, the police in Pasca hope
firepower will arrive. Colombia has more than a dozen U.S.-made combat
helicopters, including Black Hawks, that it purchased outright. There are
no strings attached to the use of these helicopters.

They are frequently at Tolemaida, and the military says it would not
hesitate to send them into combat to rescue police.

"Without a doubt, we'll use our helicopters to support them if they ask for
help," said Army Col. Paulino Coronado.

Still, foul weather, missions elsewhere, or any number of problems could
delay or paralyze their deployment. Borney and his mates fret about the
consequences if reinforcements are slow in coming.

"We have to be prepared mentally to fight for five or six hours," Borney
said as he ejected the magazine from his rifle and slapped it back in. "We
have to be mentally prepared for what lies ahead."