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ARE AMERICANS FIGHTING DRUGS OR GUERRILLAS IN COLOMBIA?

(Bogota, Colombia) - The crash of a U.S. spy plane that killed five
Americans and two Colombians has thrown an unwelcome light on the
growing and increasingly controversial role of American forces in
Colombia's anti-drug efforts.

Officials said yesterday that the bodies of five U.S. Army soldiers
stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, and two Colombian air force
majors have been recovered from the Putumayo region, where their De
Havilland RC-7 reconnaissance aircraft crashed last Friday.

For 35 years, Colombia has been fighting guerrillas of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by the Spanish acronym
FARC. Recently, U.S. advisers have provided intelligence by using
surveillance aircraft such as the downed RC-7.

The guerrillas, which make up Colombia's oldest and largest rebel
group, finance their fight by trafficking in opium and coca. Coca is
the raw material for cocaine.

The United States has given millions in foreign aid for anti-narcotics
efforts - about $300 million this year - with the stipulation that the
money be used for anti-drug efforts and not to fight a political bush
war.

Difference Hard To See

Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the U.S. drug czar, acknowledged during a visit
to Bogota this week that it is difficult to differentiate between
counternarcotics and counterinsurgency operations.

He said U.S. intervention is not on the program but that U.S.
assistance will continue in the form of training, equipment,
intelligence sharing and alternative economic development in drug-crop
regions.

Earlier this week, in response to the plane crash, the rebels issued a
communique warning that "U.S. troops would return home with tragic
results, dead or injured," if they "intervened" further.

McCaffrey, however, said the crash was accidental: The plane, he said,
plowed into a mountain that was not on the charts the crew was using.

U.S. officials are tight-lipped about American military involvement in
Colombia. So secretive are the air missions that, according to an
American official, McCaffrey ruffled feathers this week when he
revealed that last year the United States flew more than 2,000
anti-drug missions in the region, including Colombia.

Drug Business Thrives

Despite the anti-drug campaign, officials concede, the narcotics
business is booming. McCaffrey pointed to "an enormous explosion" of
cocaine and heroin production in Colombia last year and noted that in
the past three years, coca production has doubled.

According to the Pentagon, about 200 U.S. military personnel rotate in
and out of Colombia. They conduct surveillance over guerrilla regions
using sophisticated equipment.

The RC-7, for example, is a modified De Havilland aircraft fitted with
a radar dome and a variety of other sensors and antennas, including
receivers capable of picking up portable radio and wireless telephone
conversations.

The intercepted communications can be used to pinpoint guerrilla
movements. Sometimes the intercepts are relayed back to the United
States for more sophisticated analysis, such a breaking of codes.

U.S. Help Fighting Rebels

There have been persistent reports, still unconfirmed, that these
intercepts have been used to target attacks on FARC forces.

A U.S. Government General Accounting Office report released last month
revealed that in March, the Clinton administration had begun sharing
intelligence on guerrilla activities with the Colombian government.

A U.S. official conceded there had been a slight change recently in
U.S. policy: If surveillance reveals that FARC poses a threat to
Colombian troops, then the information can be shared with the
Colombian government.

That information can, of course, be used to target the guerrillas for
attack.

"There's no way to avoid it if the guerrillas interject themselves in
there," the U.S. official said. "We're fighting against anybody
involved in the drug war, whether they're insurgents or a beauty queen."

The presence of Americans has infuriated the guerrillas and their
sympathizers.

`A Colombian Problem'

"I do not think the Americans do any favors to the peace process with
the way they are behaving," said Arturo Alape, the biographer of the
longtime Colombian rebel chief, Manuel Marulanda. "This is a Colombian
problem, not an American problem."

In an interview yesterday, President Andres Pastrana downplayed the
U.S. role in Colombia. "There will be no foreign intervention in my
country while I'm president," he said. "There are a lot of mechanisms
in place" to ensure that U.S. aid is used appropriately, he added.

A former U.S. official familiar with international drug trade
expressed skepticism, however. "This is not a story about drugs," he
said. "This is a story about military operations against a guerrilla
force."

The growing U.S. presence in Colombia, the official added, is partly
the result of Pentagon jockeying for a new mission to justify its
budget and manpower requests.

Itching For A Fight?

He said the U.S. Southern Command in Miami, which is responsible for
military operations in Latin America, is: "All dressed up (with)
nowhere to go."

FARC, which launched its insurrection in 1964, says it seeks land for
peasants. Its critics say that despite Marxist-Leninist rhetoric, the
group is as dedicated to making money from narcotics trafficking as it
is to any ideology.

U.S. and Colombian officials say that the rebels pocket as much as
$600 million a year by selling protection to the nation's drug barons.

McCaffrey was in Colombia to highlight what he characterized as a
growing rebel threat, not only to Colombia and the United States, but
to the entire region.

"This is a very dangerous situation for Colombian democracy," he said.
"The spillover effect is having an impact on Ecuador, Panama,
Venezuela, Brazil, Peru."

As a result, McCaffrey is urging the White House to push for $1
billion in emergency anti-drug aid to Bogota, triple what it now
receives. Colombia already is the third-largest recipient of American
security assistance, behind only Israel and Egypt.

(Information from The Washington Post and The Associated Press is
included in this report.)