U.S. ANTI-DRUG TEAM BEGINS TRAINING COLOMBIAN FORCES

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 in the $1.3-billion
American anti-drug aid package for this nation, 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 then were transported to Larandia, a military base 40 miles from
here, according to a Colombian Armed Forces spokeswoman.

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
next month, he said.

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

However, police increasingly have come under attack from armed groups
guarding drug crops. Colombian and U.S. narcotics and national security
experts have said that those guards are often 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

for the anti-narcotics battalions. President Clinton signed the final
directive to release the aid Friday, when he also announced 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 noted 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 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 official spoke only on the condition
that he not be identified. Analysts who have spoken out on security issues
have been attacked by assassins 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 in the process of having their
records reviewed by the Colombian Defense Ministry for possible
human-rights violations, the U.S. Embassy official said. Those approved by
the Colombians will be scrutinized again 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.