U.S. SPECIAL FORCES TRAIN COLOMBIAN ANTI-DRUG UNIT

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 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 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.