NEW U.S.-BACKED NARCOTICS UNIT COULD INTENSIFY COLOMBIAN CONFLICT

By Frank Bajak
Associated Press Writer

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- With U.S. backing, Colombia has activated a new
anti-narcotics battalion aimed at undercutting the guerrillas who profit
from the drug trade.

The new army unit, a 950-man battalion -- trained and equipped by the United
States -- was inaugurated Tuesday by President Andres Pastrana.

"With the actions of this new contingent we will save the lives of human
beings around the world," Pastrana declared at the inauguration ceremony at
the Tolemaida military base just south of Bogota.

Washington's sponsorship of the battalion demonstrates its growing
commitment to help Colombia's besieged government take the offensive against
the drug-financed guerrillas.

Heavily armed leftist rebels control vast tracts of the jungle where drug
crops are cultivated and earn tens of millions of dollars annually in
protection money from narcotics producers in this country that exports the
bulk of the world's cocaine.

The United States is giving Colombia $289 million in anti-drug aid this year
- -- making it the No. 3 foreign military aid recipient -- and is working to
put together an additional emergency package based on Bogota's request for
$500 million more.

Washington is equipping the battalion with everything from 18 UH-1N
helicopters to night-vision goggles and uniforms.

U.S. Ambassador Curtis W. Kamman looked on during Tuesday's ceremony as six
army helicopters hovered above the parade ground as 15 Colombian soldiers
climbed up ropes into the choppers and simulated an assault on a drug lab.

Until this year, U.S. anti-narcotics aid to Colombia went exclusively to the
police, an effective investment until the country's big drug cartels were
dismantled and guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary groups increased their
role in the industry.

Since 1996, guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or
FARC, have consolidated their control over some 40 percent of the
countryside, making it perilous for helicopter-borne police alone to destroy
drug crops and laboratories.

Over the past two years, coca cultivation increased by 170 percent in two
southern Colombian states, according to Col. Leonardo Gallego, the
anti-narcotics police commander.

The new battalion will be based in the heart of that zone at Tres Esquinas,
a base where the military is creating a Joint Intelligence Command with U.S.
guidance. It is expected to be up and running by October.

While there is scant evidence the rebel groups have evolved into drug
trafficking organizations, there is no doubt the drug trade has made them
stronger, officials say.

In accordance with U.S. law on military aid to Colombia, only soldiers with
clean human rights records were permitted into the battalion, officials
said. Colombia's military has a history of supporting paramilitary death
squads, although Pastrana this year fired three generals accused of such links.