U.S. AID PLAN SPARKS COLOMBIAN RAIDS

BOGOTA, Colombia, Aug. 3 - A left-wing rebel attack on a village that
killed 13 police officers and four civilians is a sign that Colombia's
civil war has escalated sharply over plans for a major infusion of U.S. aid
to boost government forces.

The country's largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC), used homemade bombs crafted from propane gas cylinders to
level the police station, an agrarian bank and as many as 50 houses during
the 36-hour assault Saturday and Sunday in Arboleda, about 90 miles
northwest of Bogota. It was the ninth time the Marxist rebel group had
launched a major attack in the western mountain region since Congress
passed a $1.3 billion aid package for this embattled nation in June.

Most of the U.S. aid money will go to the Colombian military for use
against the guerrillas in areas where they collect protection money from
drug growers and traffickers to fund their 36-year-old war against the
government. The rebel group legally controls 16,000 square miles in the
southern part of the country that the government ceded to it to promote
peace negotiations.

The Clinton administration has described the aid as help for the Colombian
military in the fight against drug smuggling. But officials in the United
States and Colombia have not denied that the anti-drug battle also includes
plans for an offensive against the guerrilla forces.

"This is a war plan, and it's going to increase the political and military
battle between all of us," a member of FARC's negotiating team who uses the
nom de guerre Felipe Rincon said from the demilitarized zone where peace
talks are taking place.

Since negotiations started in January last year, little progress has been
made, and the fighting has gotten steadily worse. The plans for U.S.
military support of the government's $7.5 billion Plan Colombia - which
calls for forceful eradication of drug crops and economic support for
farmers who abandon them - have enraged the guerrillas and many other
Colombians, who charge that the United States is on the verge of military
intervention.

Critics of the rebels say they are using the demilitarized zone to
stockpile weapons and as a springboard to widen the territory it controls
in preparation for the U.S.-aided offensive against its forces. "The
guerrillas are trying to increase the size of the demilitarized zone," said
Alfredo Rangel, a former government security adviser. "Once the police
station is destroyed, they can monopolize the control of arms in the area."

The rebels have launched a record 54 such attacks on the police this year,
killing 66 officers and wounding 83 more. Police Col. Mario Gutierrez said
the attacks are intended to clear paths for drug and gun shipments to
ensure sufficient supplies. "They are trying to create different ways to
reach the Pacific coast," Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez said that one FARC-controlled area that may benefit from these
new corridors is the southern province of Putumayo. Located along the
Ecuadoran border, Putumayo is where close to half of Colombia's coca is
produced - and where much of it is refined into cocaine before being
shipped to the United States and Europe. It is also where the government
will carry out the two parts of its Plan Colombia: military action against
the rebels and social programs for small farmers to wean them from coca
production.

But the intensifying war seems to be blocking prospects for implementing
the social programs, according to people who work in the area. More than
1,000 people have fled their homes because of the fighting and others are
being forced to choose sides among the rebels, the government and
right-wing paramilitary groups, which also operate in the region in support
of the military.

"The situation has gotten worse because of this plan," said Carmenza
Mantilla, who works for a government-funded community development group in
Putumayo. "The people are in a sandwich between two guns."