NO FOREIGN INTERVENTION, COLOMBIA TOLD

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Trying to calm speculation that the United States plans
to send troops to his nation, President Andres Pastrana pledged Wednesday
that as long as he is in power, ``there will be no foreign military
intervention in Colombia.''

Speaking to a small group of foreign correspondents, Pastrana fielded
several questions fueled by reports in major newspapers in Lima, Madrid and
Buenos Aires this week suggesting that U.S. officials were sounding out
Latin leaders over the possibility of a multinational military force to
invade Colombia.

``I have said it clearly and I will reiterate it. . . . As long as I am
president, there will be no foreign military intervention in Colombia,''
Pastrana said.

He insisted that Colombia's 35-year civil conflict will not be resolved
with more warfare.

``The solution to Colombia's problem is political, not military,'' he
asserted.

Acknowledging a dramatic fall in his own popularity, Pastrana implored
Marxist rebels to offer ``gestures of peace'' to stop the erosion of public
support for a faltering peace process. He said many Colombians question how
rebels could sit at the peace table so soon after launching a bloody
offensive that took hundreds of lives.

He denied a local news report that a U.S. Army RC-7 reconnaissance plane
that crashed into an Andean mountainside last Friday had been collecting
electronic intelligence to use against guerrillas of the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). All five U.S. Army personnel and two
Colombians aboard the plane were killed.

The aircraft was on a mission ``against drug trafficking,'' he said.

U.S. Troops In Country

The Pentagon maintains about 200 U.S. military personnel in Colombia at any
given moment, staffing radar facilities, training Colombian troops or doing
jungle training of their own, U.S. officials say, all within the guidelines
of counternarcotics efforts. The officials reject any suggestion that more
U.S. troops may arrive to fight the 15,000 to 17,000 combatants in the FARC.

``There is zero possibility that any U.S. intervention will take place,''
White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey declared Tuesday during a stopover in
Colombia on a tour of three South American countries.

Last week, President Clinton wrote Pastrana a letter saying he supports a
negotiated settlement to Colombia's conflict rather than a military solution.

But many Colombians are listening to suggestions in the news media that an
invasion may be in the works. The crash of the U.S. surveillance plane,
McCaffrey's two-day visit and reports of possible huge increases in U.S.
military aid to Colombia have combined to suggest to them that Washington
is focusing on this troubled nation.

Looking slightly annoyed, Gen. Fernando Tapias, the armed forces commander,
also answered questions about the prospect of intervention by foreign troops.

``We are not willing to let anyone take our place in what we must do
ourselves. We will not accept any other force as a substitute for us,'' he
said.

Doubts Deepen

Pastrana said a sweeping FARC offensive this month, which was largely
quelled by the military, had deepened doubts over whether the insurgency
really seeks peace.

``People are waiting,'' he said. ``For example, after this terrorist
broadside last week . . . people don't understand it.''

Despite his doubts, Pastrana tried to sound upbeat about the prospects for
peace, saying he believes the FARC's leaders may be more flexible than they
appear.

``When you speak to them, it helps a lot. It is more viable and the
discussions are much more open,'' he said. He added, however, that he
wished rebel commanders would travel abroad to see the modern world.

``After all, it's been 40 years in the jungle. I think it is important that
they have interchanges. We're willing to help in this -- so is the European
Union and the United States -- so that they get out and share and live
firsthand experiences,'' he said.

The FARC's peasant leader, Manuel Marulanda Velez, reportedly has never
been out of Colombia, and other veteran FARC commanders have spent most of
their adult lives in the jungle and mountains.

Pastrana acknowledged that both the FARC and his own negotiators have been
sidetracked by problems. But he said he remains hopeful that formal talks
- -- which were postponed twice this month -- will begin soon.

``When we are thinking big, we can't let little details, which are
manageable, put the peace process in danger,'' he said.

Pastrana emphasized, though, that the FARC must permit the creation of an
international panel to ensure against abuses within a demilitarized zone of
south-central Colombia. Pastrana handed over the Switzerland-sized region
to the FARC last November.

Executions Acknowledged

Rebel leaders have acknowledged executing nearly a dozen people in the
region that they suspected of being right-wing infiltrators. Rebels in the
area say Colombian laws do not apply there.

Nearly a year after taking office, Pastrana suffers from a dismal 21
percent approval rating, according to a Gallup opinion poll published this
week.

``I know I have had to take unpopular measures,'' Pastrana said.

Colombia is suffering its worst recession in more than six decades, and the
jobless rate has soared to 19.8 percent.

``It is easy at times to take short-term measures to seek support in the
polls. I reiterate that one should govern for the country,'' he said, ``and
not the polls.''