MEASURES OF COLOMBIAN AID

The administration's plan to provide $1.3 billion (including $600 million
in counter-narcotics assistance) to Colombia raises deep concern [news
story, Jan. 12]. So far our policy, which provides millions in assistance
to the Colombian security forces, has not reduced coca cultivation or the
flow of cocaine to this country.

Instead, the United States must strongly support diplomatic efforts to
bolster the peace process and thereby create the conditions necessary for a
more effective counter-narcotics strategy.

Additional assistance to the Colombian Armed Forces, with its long history
of human rights violations and support for paramilitary groups, causes
additional concern. Recent measures by Colombia's leaders to reform the
military penal code and to criminalize torture, genocide and forced
disappearance are important steps but are not final and do not adequately
address other crimes against humanity or the lack of accountability of
military tribunals.

If the United States provides assistance, it should be conditioned on
rigorous application of the August 1997 ruling of Colombia's constitutional
court, which requires that crimes against humanity allegedly committed by
military personnel be investigated and tried in civilian courts. Neither
the military nor the superior judicial council charged with resolving
jurisdictional disputes has abided by this ruling.

Joan W. Drake, Washington