TIME TO ACT ON COLOMBIAN AID

WHEN MOST AMERICANS think of Colombia, they view it as the placid home of
coffee growers like TV's Juan Valdez. But the reality -- that drug-related
crime is overwhelming the country's fragile democratic government and
threatens to unleash a flood of refugees to the United States and its
neighbors -- is very different.

In fact, Colombia is teetering on the edge of chaos.

Guerrilla groups that have enriched themselves through the narcotics trade
now have the potential to take it over, as well as destabilize nearby
Venezuela and Ecuador. Should any of these nations fall under the power of
the guerrillas, it would cripple the U.S. war on drugs and trigger an
exodus of immigrants that could dwarf Cuba's 1980 Mariel boatlift, which
sent 125,000 refugees to U.S. shores.

Ironically, it is America's own appetite for cocaine and heroin that has
facilitated Colombia's potential collapse. The traffickers who supply drugs
to the United States -- an estimated $3 billion-to $8-billion-a-year
industry -- now control vast tracts of Colombia's rural land.

When cocaine production blossomed in the mid-1990s, two Marxist guerrilla
groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National
Liberation Army (ELN), stepped in to provide protection.

These groups field more than 17,000 heavily armed combatants and operate
their own air forces. About half of their annual income of up to $500
million comes from the drug lords.

Saddled with a weak judicial system and no real presence outside of the
major cities, the Colombian government faces an uphill fight. Drug kingpins
undercut government efforts by bribing and extorting public officials.
Those who interfere are kidnapped or killed.

Worse, the uncertainty of foreign aid has led the government to revive a
once-moribund peace process with the narco-guerrillas, despite their
unpopularity with the public. FARC's wish list includes authority over
drug-producing territory and the usual Marxist mix of property seizures and
nationalization of strategic industries. But its true aim is to keep the
government tied up in talks while the rebels attempt to buy off even more
public officials.

Beyond Colombia's borders, narco-guerrilla prospects are just as bright.
Drug traffickers and the FARC already operate in Ecuador, where the
government recently collapsed, leaving a caretaker administration and a
broken economy.

Venezuela's capricious authoritarian president is friendly to Fidel Castro,
and has already made contacts with Colombia's ELN group. Potential rebel
governments in Colombia and Ecuador, encouraged by oil-rich Venezuela,
could be a dangerous alliance against the hemisphere's fledgling
democracies. Drugs and thugs have already touched off heavy migrations.
Last year, 300,000 Colombians were forced to flee their homes, while an
additional 350,000 fled the country.

A recent Gallup poll showed that half of Colombia's 40 million people would
consider leaving their homeland if the violence worsens. Such an exodus
could easily overwhelm the resources of neighboring states and greatly
increase refugee and immigrant flows to the United States.

The Clinton administration now realizes how Colombia's distress might
affect the United States and has hastily crafted a $1.6 billion aid package
- -- now before Congress -- to apprehend drug traffickers and support the
government.

But like anything put together in a rush, the proposal has many loose ends.
Last August, Senate staffers couldn't talk the White House into supplying
even six additional helicopters to help Colombian security forces; now the
administration wants 48 helicopters, 30 of which haven't been built. The
proposal also lacks a strong regional drug-interdiction strategy, which is
vital to prevent traffickers from simply moving to other countries to set
up shop.

And it does little to help Colombia's democratic government protect
law-abiding citizens from drug outlaws, vigilantes and rebels.

The time to help Colombia is now. With each passing day, the window of
opportunity to prevent a narco-guerrilla takeover shrinks. Colombian
President Andres Pastrana is friendly to the United States, but his term
ends in two years. Denying aid will give the kingpins and rebels the upper
hand. Not providing the right kind of aid will prolong Colombia's distress.