HOOKED ON COLOMBIA

Congress has granted the Clinton administration the $1.3 billion it sought
to help Colombia fight drug cultivation and trafficking. But before final
passage of the legislation, congressional conferees stripped away some of
the important human rights and environmental safeguards added by the
Senate. Without these restrictions on the use of U.S. aid, the United
States could find itself drawn into the long war between the Colombian
government and leftist guerrillas, a war that neither side can expect to
win by military means.

It will now be up to the White House to make sure that U.S. involvement
neither prolongs war nor weakens democracy.

Colombia produces more than 90 percent of the cocaine and about twothirds
of the heroin that reaches the United States. In recent years, Bogota's
U.S.-aided effort to eradicate coca plants by aerial spraying has been
losing ground, in part because much of the crop is grown in areas where
government control is weak and the guerrillas are the most powerful
military force.

The close intertwining of drug control efforts with the army's war against
the guerrillas means that unless Washington proceeds with care, it could
find U.S. prestige and even U.S. support troops at risk in a prolonged and
openended military entanglement.

Most of the new money will go to arm, train and support Colombia's army and
police. The army, in particular, has an abysmal human rights record.

The Senate bill would have halted aid if Colombia failed to punish abusive
officers. But the conferees authorized the White House to waive this
provision by claiming that U.S. national security required action against
drugs. Also eliminated were Senate restrictions on the use of pesticides
that harm human health or the environment.

Colombia's president, Andres Pastrana, has worked hard to start peace
negotiations with the guerrillas. Successful talks could allow more settled
conditions in Colombia's drug-growing regions and give their inhabitants
economic alternatives to coca farming.

This would do far more to fight drugs and bring stability to Colombia than
would expanded military operations. The Clinton administration must ensure
that U.S. aid reinforces democracy and contributes to a negotiated peace.

THE NEW YORK TIMES.