POLITICAL TURMOIL ADDS TO COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT'S WOES

Since taking office in August 1998, President Andres Pastrana of Colombia
has had his hands full trying to fend off both guerrillas and drug
traffickers. Now a deepening political crisis is threatening to weaken his
authority even further. The crisis is in large part a result of a plan that
Mr. Pastrana announced on March 30 for a referendum to enhance his power by
dissolving the existing Congress and electing one that would be more
streamlined and, presumably, more compliant. But the move backfired when
legislators urged that Mr. Pastrana's own job also be submitted to a vote,
and the president withdrew his plan on Monday.

In addition, three of Mr. Pastrana's closest advisers have resigned in
recent weeks. Interior Minister Nestor Martinez is the latest casualty,
stepping down on Monday just as Congress was about to begin an
investigation -- apparently in reprisal for the referendum proposal -- into
accusations that he had been making payoffs to lawmakers to support
government legislation.

The turmoil in Bogota occurs as the United States Congress is considering
$1.7 billion in emergency aid to Colombia to help Mr. Pastrana combat an
increase in drug production that Washington attributes to guerrilla groups.
The bill has passed the House but is stalled in the Senate, and President
Clinton warned last week that Colombia might be "undermined and
overwhelmed," unless action was promptly taken.

Mr. Pastrana's approval rating has dived, to 29 percent from 40 a month
ago. With the midway point of his four-year term approaching, he
increasingly has to fight the perception that he is no longer running the
country or able to control events.

In an editorial on Tuesday, El Espectador, the daily in Bogota, compared
Colombia to a "ship that is tossing around in stormy seas without a compass
or a crew." The paper, owned by the country's leading business group, also
said, "It is hard to remember a time of greater turmoil or a time when
there was worse leadership in charge of the state."

Almost simultaneously, peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, the main Marxist-Leninist guerrilla group, have taken a turn for
the worse. Last month, the group, known by the Spanish acronym FARC, said
it intended to impose a "peace tax" on all people and companies with assets
of $1 million or more. People who did not pay would be kidnapped, the
rebels said.

That announcement was followed by the resignation of Mr. Pastrana's chief
peace negotiator, Victor G. Ricardo, and a wave of speculation that the
FARC was writing off the possibility of an accord and building up a war
chest to counter American aid.

"Things are heating up in such a way that it could quickly lead to a
break-off of negotiations," Manuel Marulanda, the group's founder, said on
Sunday in a rare interview with reporters.

Despite the outcry, Mr. Marulanda has refused to budge from the "tax"
demand, presenting it as preferable to his group's current extortion and
abduction. "This law is going to avoid kidnapping," he said. "Instead of
searching for them, we can reach an agreement" with targets.

To succeed Mr. Martinez, his chief political operative, Mr. Pastrana has
turned to a onetime rival, former Vice President Humberto de la Calle. A
member of the opposition Liberal Party, Mr. de la Calle was the running
mate of Ernesto Samper, who defeated Mr. Pastrana in his first run for the
presidency, in 1994, but was ostracized by the United States after it was
learned that drug traffickers had bankrolled his campaign.

Mr. de la Calle, who resigned halfway through the scandal-ridden Samper
administration, said this week that his most urgent task would be to try
"to rapidly lower the temperature and return to an atmosphere of democratic
discussion."

Foreign Minister Guillermo Fernandez also called for a respite from
squabbling, saying: "The language we should use at this moment is of calm,
not confrontation.

It seems that the country cannot withstand more confrontation."

Mr. Pastrana has also lost his chief of staff, Juan Hernandez. He stepped
down this month after having been accused of "improper personal
enrichment," the same type of corruption that Mr. Pastrana pledged to
eradicate as a candidate two years ago.

The uncertainties have worsened the economic crisis, which had recently
shown signs of easing.

The peso fell to record lows against the dollar this week, and there is
wide speculation, which the government called unfounded, that Finance
Minister Juan Camilo Restrepo will be the next minister toppled.

"The combination of guerrilla threats with the development of a political
crisis of unpredictable consequences that damages the management and the
correction of serious fiscal problems has reverberated very negatively in
debt evaluations and the perceptions of Colombia abroad," said Armando
Montenegro, president of the National Association of Financial Institutions.

The confrontation also increases fears that Mr. Pastrana will not win
approval of tax and pension reforms that are requisites for a $2.7 billion
credit line from the International Monetary Fund. In a speech to a business
group on Monday, Mr. Pastrana asked lawmakers to show "a patriotic sense of
duty" but said he would act without them if he had to.