US ANTIDRUG TEAM ARRIVES IN COLOMBIA

FLORENCIA, Colombia - US Special Forces trainers quietly arrived in
Colombia last week to begin preparing this country's second antinarcotics
military battalion, a key element in a $1.3-billion American aid package,
US and Colombian sources said.

Colombian soldiers with rifles drawn surrounded both the 83 trainers and
the US Air Force C-17 transport plane that brought them into this southern
town about two hours by highway from guerrilla-held territory. The trainers
then were transported to a nearby military base, according to a Colombian
Armed Forces spokeswoman.

The battalion is scheduled to be ready by Christmas, said a US Embassy
official. A 12-man brigade headquarters command to oversee the military
antinarcotics activity will begin training in September.

The 780 soldiers in the new battalion will join the first US-trained
battalion, which began functioning Dec. 15, 1999, to provide support for
police antinarcotics operations. Police handle 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 increasingly have come under attack from armed groups guarding drug
crops.