U.S. TO HELP COLOMBIA FIGHT DRUGS

WASHINGTON (AP) - New extortion demands by Colombian leftist rebels will
not deter the United States from helping the Colombian government fight its
drug war, Defense Secretary William Cohen said Thursday.

The rebel group known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or
FARC, announced Tuesday it will begin kidnapping Colombian millionaires and
corporate executives who refuse to pay a tax to it.

The rebels said their extortion policy was a counter to government
aggression fueled in part by ``Yankee imperialism.''

"These are not dewy-eyed romanticists that have in mind the welfare of the
Colombian people,'' Cohen told reporters in a joint appearance with Luis
Fernando Ramirez, Colombia's minister of national defense. "To the extent
that they are engaged and supported by narco-trafficking, that is clearly
undermining Colombian society, and to the extent that that product is
distributed and disseminated in the United States, it's certainly having a
very negative impact upon our citizens as well.''

A $1.7 billion anti-narcotics aid package passed the House on March but has
stalled in the Senate. Cohen predicted that the Senate would pass the aid
package soon.

"The fact that we are determined to help Colombia, which wants to rid
itself of narco-trafficking (means) we are prepared to continue that
assistance,'' Cohen said. ``That is for our benefit as well as the people
of Colombia.''

Ramirez said his government would not stand for more extortion demands by FARC.

"This is obviously an extortion,'' Ramirez said. "The Colombian government
cannot accept that someone who has not been legitimately elected, replace
our congress and our authorities. And the Colombian military or police will
continue to perform their constitutional mandate to pursue and prosecute
those who are committing these acts against the law.''