CLINTON PLANS A DAY TRIP TO BOLSTER COLOMBIA

EDGARTOWN, Mass., Aug. 4 -- President Clinton will make a one-day trip to
Colombia this month to support its struggle against narcotics and spotlight
the $1.3 billion aid package that Congress approved last month, the White
House said today. "Colombia's success is profoundly in the interest of the
United States," Mr. Clinton said in a statement released here today after he
had arrived on Martha's Vineyard with his wife and daughter for several days
of vacation and political fund-raising events. "A peaceful, democratic and
economically prosperous Colombia will help promote democracy and stability
throughout the hemisphere."

The package proposed by Mr. Clinton and passed by the House and Senate will
equip and train military units assigned to fight cocaine traffickers, who
supply an estimated 90 percent of the cocaine that enters the United States.
Along with 18 Blackhawk helicopters and 42 Huey 2 helicopters to ferry
anti-drug forces, the package includes money to promote judicial reform,
human rights protection and economic development.

The money did not clear Congress without controversy. Opponents complained
that much of the money went to the Colombian Army, which has been accused of
human rights abuses, and that the United States might be dragged into an
internal conflict in which it is sometimes difficult to separate drug
traffickers from antigovernment guerrillas.

To highlight the bipartisan nature of the aid, Mr. Clinton will travel with
lawmakers of both parties, including House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert,
Republican of Illinois, and Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., Democrat of
Delaware.

An administration official said Mr. Clinton's visit on Aug. 30 was meant to
show solidarity with President Andres Pastrana, who is fighting economic
woes as well as drug traffickers, leftist guerrillas and rightist
paramilitary units. The trip will follow a similar mission to Nigeria to
support Olusegun Obasanjo, the first democratically elected president there
in 16 years.

An administration official involved in the Colombia efforts said that much
of the money would go to southern Colombia, the region with the most coca
fields. "You're going to have counternarcotics battalions of the army going
in and helping to secure these fields," the official said, "and you're going
to have police going in and helping to dismantle laboratories and to
eradicate the coca production."

Officials said security would be a top priority on the trip. Mr. Clinton
will not remain overnight in Colombia but will fly from Washington and
return that evening. In announcing the visit, the White House noted that
Colombia has one of the highest homicide and kidnapping rates and is a
dangerous working environment for American officials and other citizens.