PROSPECT OF US CASH ENCOURAGES COLOMBIAN MILITARY TO POLISH IMAGE

Army Officials Have Launched A Charm Offensive Ahead Of Congress Debates On
A Dollars 1.6bn Aid Package

Victory in a battle with leftwing guerrillas at the weekend has helped the
Colombian military to shine up its image in time for congressional debates
in the US on whether to inject hundreds of millions of dollars into its
fighting forces.

Special counter-insurgency troops and two army units repelled an advance by
Colombia's most powerful guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (Farc), just 50km south-east of the capital city of Bogota at the
weekend. The armed forces chief, Fernando Tapias, said 44 rebels died in
the fighting, along with five of his own soldiers and one policeman.

Military officials quickly presented the victory as evidence that their
troops have taken on a new, professional edge after 18 months of
restructuring in response to several demoralising defeats.

The latest clash comes as US legislators prepare for debates next month on
an unprecedented Dollars 1.6bn aid package to fight drugs and bolster
democracy in Colombia.

The White House has yet to offer a breakdown of the plan, but initial
reports say the bulk of the spending will be earmarked for the armed
forces, including funds for 30 Black Hawk and 33 Huey helicopters and
training for two elite counter-narcotics units.

In preparation for the congressional debate the Colombian military has also
sought to scrub up its spotty human rights record. In September General
Tapias said the number of alleged human rights abuses attributed to the
military had fallen by 98 per cent over the last three years, to 40 cases.

The military has also trumpeted its human rights training courses. In a
typical session, officers are taught to evacuate wounded guerrillas along
with their own injured, or to offer water to those captured in combat. By
contrast, local media have cast a harsh light on human rights abuses
committed by the Farc, such as sending terrified minors into battle.

Over the weekend, for example, the prominent daily newspaper El Tiempo ran
a front-page photograph of army soldiers bandaging a rebel's bleeding
shoulder. The same day a local broadcaster reported that Farc troops had
prevented a wounded civilian from seeking medical help during a roadside
firefight, and that he later had died.

But even if the military can persuade Colombians that it has transformed
itself into a more effective fighting machine, it has a long way to go to
persuade human rights groups that it can be trusted with a plump aid
package from Washington.

In particular, monitors are concerned about links between the military and
ultra-right paramilitary death squads. Paramilitaries massacre suspected
rebel sympathisers with impunity in Colombia and often enjoy tacit military
support.

Political analyst and the author Alfredo Rangel said the prospect of such a
huge increase in foreign aid - US assistance to Colombia would triple under
the two-year Dollars 1.6bn plan - might actually force the military to
distance itself from the paramilitaries and their rights abuses.

"The Colombian state, and the army in particular, is obligated to present
much more credible results in their fight against paramilitaries as a way
to legitimise the increase in external aid," Mr Rangel said.

Others say the plan puts too much emphasis on military aid, and not enough
on programmes to replace drug crops with legal ones, or to bolster an
overburdened judicial system. While presented as an offensive on Colombia's
booming drug trade, they say, the package could draw the US into Colombia's
complex 35-year-old civil conflict, which has claimed some 30,000 lives.

Insurgents as well as paramilitaries are increasingly involved in
Colombia's lucrative drug trade, blurring the line between anti- narcotics
and anti-insurgency assistance.

"This (package) is being smuggled in under the rubric of the war on drugs
which is an easy sell," said Winifred Tate, from the Washington Office on
Latin America. But she added: "The vast majority of the aid will be for
military assistance, creating a parallel armed force within the armed forces."

The aid proposal has already put leaders of the insurgents on their guard.
"With the pretext of combating drug traffickers, the United States is
getting more and more involved in the Colombian situation and could
aggravate the conflict," Ivan Rios, Farc commander, told reporters last week.