US DRUG CZAR REASSURES COLUMBIA ON AID

BOGOTA, Colombia, Feb. 24 - The White House's top official on drug policy
capped a three-day visit here today by touring a jungle base from which a
new Colombian Armed Forces unit hopes to attack Marxist guerrillas involved
in the cocaine trade. Aside from that excursion, however, most of his time
here was devoted to maneuvering through the thickets of Colombian and
American politics. The trip was the second in little more than six months
that Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, director of the Office of National Drug
Control Policy, has made to Colombia, the source of 90 percent of the
cocaine consumed in the United States. It came as the Clinton
administration is seeking Congressional approval of a $1.6 billion aid
package for which General McCaffrey has strongly lobbied, warning that
there is "clearly a huge drug emergency" here because of an explosion in
cocaine production.

The proposed aid includes 63 helicopters - 33 Blackhawks and 30 Hueys -
intended to give government units the ability to operate in coca-growing
areas that the main guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, now dominates. But the distribution of aircraft between the
Colombian Armed Forces and the National Police, traditional rivals, has not
been determined, and both have been jockeying for advantage.

Until recently, American officials held the armed forces in low regard,
preferring to work with the police, who were seen as more aggressive and
less corrupt. As currently structured, the aid package calls for the armed
forces to get most of the aircraft, but the police commander, Gen. Rosso
Jose Serrano, has a warm personal relationship with conservative
Republicans on Capitol Hill, whose support is essential if the aid package
is to be approved.

What progress, if any, has been made in resolving the issue was unclear
today. Colombian military officials would not comment. An American official
traveling with General McCaffrey said there was "still a little bit of
give" on the matter, which is expected to be raised at Congressional
hearings in the next few weeks.

Some leaders in Colombia have expressed concern that the aid package does
not do enough to address the social and economic problems that underlie the
conflict with the guerrillas.

There is also growing anxiety that increased American involvement here,
which includes the presence of 80 to 200 American military trainers at any
given time, will eventually result in direct military intervention by the
United States.

So in nearly all of his appearances General McCaffrey emphasized that $270
million was scheduled to go to alternative economic development programs.
He also dismissed the prospect of American intervention at every
opportunity, telling one audience, "I do not anticipate an enhanced U.S.
footprint in this country."

"The execution of this program is in the hand of Colombian leadership," he
said of the aid package at a news conference here on Wednesday. "It is
Colombian sovereignty at stake, and it must be Colombian ideas that guide
this strategy."

The general's visit coincided with the release in the United States of a
Human Rights Watch report charging that Colombian Army units continue to
maintain links with right-wing paramilitary groups that are killing
civilians and human rights advocates. Legislation passed in 1997 prohibits
American military aid to units with a record of such abuses.

Questioned about the report, General McCaffrey said Colombia had a human
rights problem "of gigantic proportions." But he added, "I believe the
leadership of this country is committed to respecting the rule of law,"
citing the armed forces' commander, Gen. Fernando Tapias, by name and
saying that "complaints against the armed forces have dwindled to almost
nothing."

He acknowledged, however, that "when you get down to brigade level" the
picture became fuzzier. So after viewing a training exercise this morning
at the Tres Esquinas base, the home of the first of three new antinarcotics
battalions being trained and financed by the United States, he reminded
soldiers that their responsibility included "your respect for human rights."