U.S. TRAINING COLOMBIA'S 2nd DRUG BATTALION

FLORENCIA, Colombia--U.S. Special Forces trainers quietly arrived in
Colombia last week and have begun preparing this country's second
anti-narcotics military battalion, a key element of a new $1.3-billion
American anti-drug aid package, U.S. and Colombian sources confirmed.

Colombian soldiers with rifles drawn surrounded both the trainers and
the U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane that brought them into this
southern town about two hours by highway from guerrilla-held
territory. The 83 trainers were then transported to Larandia, a
military base 40 miles from here, according to a Colombian armed
forces spokeswoman.

The base, opened in 1962, has never been attacked and is considered
secure despite its proximity to rebel-dominated areas. The
16-square-mile training facility is built on the type of terrain that
the battalion is expected to confront in its anti-drug operations.

The battalion is scheduled to be ready for action by Christmas, said a
U.S. Embassy official in the capital, Bogota. A 12-man brigade
headquarters command to oversee the military anti-narcotics activity
will begin training in September, he said.

The 780 soldiers in the new battalion will join the first U.S.-trained
anti-drug battalion, which began functioning Dec. 15, 1999, to provide
support for police anti-narcotics operations. Police are responsible
for drug enforcement in Colombia, which produces about three-fourths
of the world's cocaine and an increasing share of the heroin consumed
in the United States.

However, police have increasingly come under attack from armed groups
guarding drug crops. Colombian and U.S. narcotics and national
security experts have said that those guards often are guerrillas or
right-wing paramilitary units, which the army is responsible for fighting.

For that reason, the army is scheduled to receive $521 million in U.S.
aid for training and equipment, including 46 helicopters, for the
anti-narcotics battalions. President Clinton signed the final
directive to release the aid Friday, when he also announced that he
will visit Colombia for the first time Aug. 30.

"The cornerstone of our Colombia Initiative, this supplemental
[appropriation] includes a tenfold increase in U.S. funds to promote
good government, judicial reform, human rights protection and economic
development in Colombia," Clinton said in a statement released in
Washington. "It will help Colombia strengthen its democracy while
helping the government staunch the flow of drugs to our shores.

"This directive, along with the sharp increase in funding from
Congress, will intensify our efforts to help the Colombian government
implement its comprehensive national strategy," he said.

About two-thirds of the new $1.3-billion aid package will go directly
to Colombia, with the rest used for anti-drug support programs in the
region, such as improvements to landing areas used by anti-narcotics
spy planes and to law enforcement programs in neighboring countries.

The U.S. aid is extremely important for the morale of the Colombian
army, said a national security expert in Bogota. After years of U.S.
support for the police instead of the armed forces, with the new aid
package, he said, "they feel like they have their dad back."

Like all of those interviewed, this analyst spoke only on the
condition that he not be identified. Analysts who have spoken out on
security issues have been attacked by hit men on university campuses,
and some have been killed or seriously injured.

The insurgents have a long-standing policy of considering U.S. Embassy
officials involved in military training efforts here "military
targets," or enemies to be shot on sight. Such threats have
intensified with the training of the military anti-narcotics battalions.

Prospective members of a third battalion are having their records
reviewed by the Colombian Defense Ministry for possible human rights
violations, the U.S. Embassy official said. Those who are approved by
the Colombians will then be scrutinized by the U.S. State Department
for evidence of either human rights or narcotics offenses.

U.S. law prohibits giving aid to any foreign military group whose
members face credible accusations of human rights offenses. While the
Colombian military record on respect for human rights has improved
markedly in recent years, many soldiers still in uniform joined the
army when it had a well-deserved reputation for terrorizing civilians.

Scrutiny for evidence of narcotics offenses is not required but was
considered prudent. The screening has been so thorough, the U.S.
Embassy official said, that when the records of six candidates showed
that they had been cleared of accusations of drug crimes, the State
Department reviewed the entire case file related to the
accusations.

"Every single man on that training range can undergo the closest
scrutiny for respecting human rights and pass," the embassy official
said.