COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT SEEKS AID

WASHINGTON - Colombian President Andres Pastrana, appealing for
swift congressional approval of a two-year, $1.6 billion counterdrug
package, said Tuesday that delays will only hamper efforts to stop
``tons and tons'' of Colombian-produced cocaine from entering the
United States.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Pastrana said cocaine
production has doubled over the past four years, and he cautioned that
the problem cannot be overcome without help from both the United
States and Europe.

``The sooner we get the aid, the sooner we are going to these
(drug-producing) areas not only to fight the drug lords and narcos
involved in the business but also to start promoting alternative
development,'' he said.

Dramatic increases in eradication efforts have been more than offset
by a 50 percent increase in coca cultivation over the past two years,
according to congressional investigators. Officials say 80 percent of
cocaine entering the United States comes from Colombia or is
transported through it. And, they say, Colombia is the source of most
heroin consumed by Americans.

President Clinton presented the aid request as an emergency
supplemental bill in January, and the House approved it last month by
a lopsided margin. But Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss.,
with whom Pastrana will meet Wednesday, has said he does not believe
the measure warrants emergency consideration.

Lott told reporters Tuesday he supports the aid money for Colombia but
was concerned about additions to the package unrelated to Colombia
that were increasing the price tag.

``I want him (Pastrana) to get this money ... but I have a higher
obligation to the taxpayers of America. I have to do what I can to
control the growth of spending,'' he said.

Predicting the money will be approved, Lott said the wait will be not
much longer than if it had gone through the emergency process.

Colombia is not getting rich off the drug trade, Pastrana said in the
interview, arguing that much of the $500 billion it generates each
year winds up in the United States, with very little staying in his
country.

But, he said, Colombia has made a big sacrifice in combatting the drug
trade, investing $1.3 billion annually to curb U.S.-bound flows of
cocaine and heroin.

``We want to show the world (that) we are on the front lines in the
fight on drugs. We have lost our best journalists, the best
politicians, the best policemen, the best judges,'' he said.

``It is a big sacrifice not only for the economy but also in human
life,'' he added. ``Instead of pointing out who is responsible, why
don't we unite all our efforts in fighting the largest criminal
organization in the world?''

Pastrana, a frequent visitor to Washington during his 20 months in
office, met with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Tuesday
afternoon and plans meetings with other lawmakers besides Lott.

Afterward, he plans to travel to Europe, where a meeting of donors is
planned for July to assist his program for dealing with Colombia's
myriad ills. He expressed hope that the Europeans will make pledges in
the $600 million to $800 million range.

Albright, with Pastrana standing at her side at the State Department
after their meeting, renewed the administration's call for fast action
on the assistance proposal, a major feature of which is 63 helicopters
to enhance the mobility of units involved in counternarcotics activities.

``It's urgent that we support him, not with the promise of help but
with its reality, not eventually, but now,'' Albright said.

Pastrana took office in August 1998 giving high priority to
negotiating a settlement to the country's four-decade-long guerrilla
war. Critics contend he made too many concessions to the rebels, but
Pastrana said he has made more progress in ending the war than had
been made in the previous 40 years.

He contrasted the Colombia peace talks with other peace efforts
elsewhere in which, he said, the disputants spent months negotiating
issues such as the agenda and even the shape of the negotiating table.

In Colombia, he said, such issues were resolved in ``two meetings of
less than two hours.''

Pastrana said the main issue is the type of economic model most
appropriate for the country. Once there is agreement on that, 70
percent of the negotiating process will have been completed, he said.