U.S. MAY INCREASE AID TO COLOMBIA

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Clinton administration may increase economic and
military aid to Colombia as it grapples with civil war, narcotics
trafficking, human rights abuses and economic decline, a State Department
spokesman said Monday.

The hint of an increase followed separate visits to the South American
country by White House drug policy director Barry R. McCaffrey and
Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering.

"Colombia's needs are critical, and we are certainly exploring every avenue
to provide assistance," deputy State Department spokesman James Foley said.

"Colombia is working on a comprehensive strategy to address the
interrelated problems confronting it," he said. "And we are going to be
studying that strategy closely with an eye toward providing assistance
where we can."

Colombia defense officials last month requested $500 million in military
aid over the next two years. This year Colombia already is due to receive
$289 million in counterdrug assistance.

Foley declined to say how much additional aid Colombia may get. "It
certainly is premature to discuss specific amounts at this point," he said.
"We are considering a wide gamut of possible areas of assistance, but any
assistance package we do come up with will be heavily weighted towards
counternarcotics."

McCaffrey has talked about a $1 billion regional supplement but Pickering
said last week that any such proposal is premature in the absence of a
specific program the United States could support.

Pickering also said it would be a mistake to overestimate the strength of
FARC guerrillas, the dominant rebel group in Colombia, despite recent
battlefield successes.

Speaking to reporters on his visit to Bogota a week earlier, Pickering said
Colombia "is not in danger" of being taken over by the guerrillas, who
number between 20,000 and 25,000 and who finance their activities by
working in league with narcotraffickers.