QUICK AID TO COLOMBIA--FOR OUR SAKE

Latin America: Drug trafficking and a struggling economy could destabilize
the region.

Skeptics looking for confirmation of a Colombia in crisis need look no
further than the northern border towns of Vigia del Fuerte and Bojaya. On
March 25 and 26, insurgent guerrillas attacked these fishing villages near
Panama. Churches, homes and government buildings were destroyed.

Thirty people--including a mayor, two children and 24 police officers--were
killed. Seven other police officers were taken prisoner.

Four more are missing.

Statistics complement this chilling story of a country in precipitous
decline. Between 1995 and 1999, annual Colombian cocaine production
skyrocketed from 230 to 520 metric tons, an amount that accounts for 80% of
the world supply.

Since 1990, Colombia's growing guerrilla insurgency has murdered 35,000 of
its citizens, including 5,000 police officers.

Worse, drug traffickers and insurgents bent on overthrowing the oldest
democracy in Latin America are working together, a merger that raises the
specter of a Colombia run by violent narcotics predators. Another ominous
sign is Colombia's struggling economy.

The nation is suffering through its first sustained recession after nearly
seven decades of uninterrupted economic growth.

The combination of 21% unemployment, a robust black market economy and a
lack of investor confidence is an explosive cocktail.

Were these problems self-contained, it would be easy to dismiss them as
another country's internal struggles.

But they are not. More than 90% of the cocaine and 70% of the heroin
consumed in the United States originates in Colombia.

Our nation's interests in the Andean region extend beyond helping to target
the source of this drug flow. The struggle between insurgents and the
Colombian government has bled into neighboring nations, a troubling
development that recalls the spread of civil disorder throughout Central
America in the 1980s. Particularly troubling is the fact that one of those
nations--Venezuela--is our largest petroleum supplier.

Finally, Colombia's economic troubles promise to hit the United States where
it hurts the most, in the pocketbook. As South America's third-largest
economy, Colombia has become our fifth-largest export market in Latin
America. In 1998 alone, it imported approximately $4 billion in U.S. goods
and services.

In addition, Colombia's oil reserves of 2.6 billion barrels--only slightly
less than OPEC members Qatar, Indonesia and Algeria--could serve as a major
energy source, but will remain untapped unless stability is restored.

In January, President Clinton proposed $1.6 billion in U.S. assistance to
complement Plan Colombia, the recovery proposal constructed largely through
the courageous efforts of Colombian President Andres Pastrana. The
administration's package provides aid to help destroy the country's
coca-growing capacity and assistance in training, equipping and providing
intelligence to Colombia's security forces.

The House of Representatives approved the plan March 30.

We strongly support the Clinton plan, but also recognize that it is not a
panacea for Colombia's woes, nor can it represent the totality of U.S.
involvement. Our greatest strategic contributions must come in helping
Colombia develop the strong institutions it needs for success, such as a
professional military that protects human rights and a respected judicial
system. The United States also is in a position to bolster Colombia's
economy by extending the Andean Trade Preferences Act, which for nearly 10
years has fostered economic cooperation between the United States and its
Andean friends.

We also should give Colombia and its neighbors the same trade preferences
enjoyed by Caribbean Basin Initiative nations.

But our best intentions will be in vain if we delay.

The United States has pledged half of the international assistance to help
address Colombia's growing problems, and a slow pace in providing that aid
could have a chilling effect on other nations.

For example, Spain is hosting a conference of nations to aid Colombia in
June--a meeting that could result in failure if we have not yet demonstrated
our commitment to Colombian recovery.

Pastrana has made a good-faith effort to rebuild his country, and Clinton
has responded in kind. Now that the House has acted positively, it is up to
the Senate. Given the rapidly deteriorating situation in Colombia,
assistance delayed will have the effect of assistance denied or worse,
rendered irrelevant. But if Congress accepts the challenge of quick action,
we can contribute to restoring the societal and economic conditions on which
a stable Colombia and Latin America depend.