U.S. OFFERS BIG PACKAGE TO AID COLOMBIA DRUG WAR

WASHINGTON - The Clinton administration yesterday announced a massive
infusion of aid to Colombia, totaling $1.3 billion over the next two years,
to cripple drug production and smuggling and shore up a government besieged
by guerrilla attacks and economic woes.

"Strengthening stability and democracy in Colombia, and fighting the drug
trade there, is in our fundamental national interest," said President
Clinton. "We must and we will intensify this vital work."

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and drug czar Barry McCaffrey
described the aid package as a "good mix" of military, security and
economic assistance. They also defended it as a necessary part of the drug
war in the United States.

"This will not just benefit the 36 million people of Colombia, but American
children," said McCaffrey. "We are experiencing an explosion of cocaine and
heroin from Colombia flowing to the 4.1 million Americans addicted to drugs."

The biggest component in the aid proposal would help the Colombian military
and national police take the offensive against narco-traffickers and
guerrilla groups that control about 40 percent of the country, especially
in the southern region. That's where coca production has almost doubled in
the past two years.

About $600 million in the next two years would help train and equip two
more special anti-drug military units to join a battalion that is about to
begin operations. The aid package includes 30 Blackhawk helicopters and 18
more Huey copters to make these units more mobile.

Albright also pledged that aid would not go to military units implicated in
human-rights abuses, and that the assistance is targeted at drug
traffickers, not insurgents - a difficult distinction in a messy civil
conflict where they often work together.

Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have chided the administration for foot
dragging in preparing the aid package, which was requested by Colombian
officials last summer. Two GOP senators, Paul Coverdell of Georgia and
Michael DeWine of Ohio, proposed their own aid plan in the fall.

But those two senators were generally supportive yesterday.

Administration officials said the aid plan was worked out in detail with
President Andres Pastrana, whose $7.5 billion Plan Colombia seeks
significant help from the United States, European nations and international
agencies. They also said yesterday's announcement may give Pastrana more
leverage in his efforts to negotiate with guerrilla groups.

McCaffrey emphasized the importance of aid to farmers in Colombia to wean
them off coca production. Such programs, along with crop eradication, have
scored major successes in Bolivia and Peru, but also pushed more of the
drug production into southern Colombia.

Colombia already receives about $150 million a year in aid, ranking behind
only Israel and Egypt as an aid recipient. But U.S. officials said the big
boost in aid would not lead to an increase in U.S. forces.

There are about 130 U.S. military and security personnel in Colombia, with
many of them involved in training programs.

Several organizations that monitor human rights warned yesterday that the
Clinton proposal was too heavily weighted toward military and security aid,
citing links between the Colombian military and paramilitary groups that
have committed massacres.

"U.S. military aid to Colombia is tantamount to underwriting the Colombian
`dirty war,'" said Carlos Salinas of Amnesty International.