US AID HELPS COLOMBIA BOOST WAR ON DRUGS, REBELS

BOGOTA - A record aid package for Colombia under construction in the U.S.
Congress is still open to changes in crucial areas that will dictate the
shape of the war against drugs and Marxist rebels, military and independent
analysts said Friday.

President Andres Pastrana Thursday welcomed passage of the aid bill, which
would ratchet up aid to a record $1 billion, at least two-thirds of which
is military aid.

But key details about the type and number of U.S.-supplied helicopters to
be used for an airborne offensive into southern Colombia were still to be
completed. And conditions to ensure the aid did not aggravate human rights
abuses by the Colombian military were also undecided.

"This (package) clearly marks a major shift in U.S. policy, ratcheting up
anti-narcotics aid and the commitment of the U.S. military," said Winifred
Tate, a Bogota-based specialist at the nongovernmental Washington Office on
Latin America (WOLA). "But we still do not know what the contours of the
U.S. assistance are going to be."

The package will allow Washington to double its military presence in
Colombia to around 500 advisers, which critics, including the rebels, fear
will mark a slide toward a Vietnam-style expeditionary war.

The package would confirm Colombia's position as the third-largest
recipient of U.S. assistance after Israel and Egypt.

U.S. officials have increasingly described Colombia's three-decade-old war
as a U.S. national security threat, arguing Communist insurgents have
presided over a massive increase in cocaine and heroin output, now flooding
U.S. streets, as a means of funding their uprising.

In comments late Thursday, Pastrana applauded the Senate vote and insisted
a proportion of the aid would be spent on development and social programs.
Another slice of the funds has been earmarked to relocate civilians
displaced by the war that has claimed more than 35,000 lives in the last
decade.

Slush Fund And Death Squads

The U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, which came up with
slightly different aid proposals, are to meet next week to reconcile the
final amount of the package. A final decision seemed likely before the end
of July and possibly within a week.

Political analysts expected the figure to be somewhere between $1 billion
and $1.3 billion, close to what President Clinton requested in January.

The Senate proposal substituted cheaper, Vietnam-era Superhuey UH-1N
helicopters for the 30 UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters proposed by Clinton and
the House, which would save some $300 million.

But U.S. and Colombian military officials argued the Superhueys, which have
a shorter flying range, are smaller and slower, would limit the Colombian
army's ability to fly anti-drug raids deep inside guerrilla-held territory.

The final wording of human rights conditions was also regarded as an
important issue because it would dictate the conditions under which the
U.S. aid could be used and set clear distinctions between anti-narcotics
and counterinsurgency operations.

Colombia's army has one of the worst records of human rights violations
anywhere in the hemisphere. The U.S. State Department has accused
Colombia's military of close ties with outlaw ultra-right death squads
which have waged a "dirty war" against the rebels and their sympathizers.

In a Reuters interview in southern Putumayo province -- traditional
guerrilla stronghold and top drug-producing region -- a senior death squad
chieftain said his men would act as a spearhead for the U.S.-funded
offensive known as "Plan Colombia.

He said his fighters could hand over territory wrested from the rebels to
allow the Colombian army's elite anti-narcotics battalions, trained and
equipped by the United States, to set up supply dumps and landing areas for
helicopters.

Within the U.S. aid package a sum ranging between $35 million, in the
Senate, and $80 million, in the House, has been set aside for "classified"
operations.

Human rights groups have also suggested the money would be a slush fund for
deep-cover operations.

"We are extremely worried because there's absolutely no transparency,
monitoring or accountability," said WOLA's Tate.