COLOMBIA'S PRESIDENT DENIES U.S. MILITARY ROLE IS GROWING

BOGOTA, Colombia -- As searchers discovered four bodies in the
wreckage of a U.S. Army plane that crashed last week during an
anti-drug mission, President Andres Pastrana on Wednesday tried to
dispel concerns about the growing American military involvement in
Colombia.

Smiling and appearing relaxed during an interview with foreign
reporters at the Casa de Nari?o presidential palace, Pastrana said
U.S. aid goes toward the drug war and that a direct American role in
the fight against Marxist guerrillas is out of the question.

"I have clearly said, and I repeat, that as long as I am president,
there will be no foreign military intervention in Colombia," Pastrana
said as he sipped coffee.

But the crash of the U.S. Army De Havilland RC-7 aircraft in the
southern state of Putumayo on Friday has led to speculation that the
Pentagon is becoming more entangled in the conflict because the
Colombian rebels are deeply involved in drug trafficking.

There have even been rumors in the region about an American invasion.
In Peru, the Lima daily La Republica recently published a story about
an alleged CIA plot to invade Colombia with the help of Peruvian and
Ecuadorean forces. An opinion column on the topic in the Bogota daily
El Tiempo on Wednesday was titled, "The Gringos are coming!"

In Argentina, President Carlos Menem has offered to provide military
assistance to defeat the Colombian rebels. And during a two-day visit
to Colombia this week, U.S. drug czar Barry McCaffrey said the United
States must pay more attention to "a growing emergency in the region."

Colombia is already the third-largest recipient of U.S. military aid
after Israel and Egypt, receiving $289 million in assistance this
year. The Pastrana government has requested another $500 million in
military aid over the next two years. Hundreds of U.S. advisers rotate
through the country and are helping to train an elite anti-drug
battalion of troops.

But Pastrana pointed out that in a recent letter, President Clinton
endorsed Colombia's efforts to negotiate a peace pact with the
guerrillas. During his visit, McCaffrey ruled out any intervention in
the guerrilla war.

"Colombia's problems will not be resolved through military means,"
Pastrana said in the interview. "The United States has backed the
peace process."

Meanwhile, a joint team of 28 American and Colombian rescue workers
reached the isolated crash site of the Army reconnaissance plane and
found the remains of four of the seven crew members aboard the plane
when it crashed. But the bodies have yet to be identified or removed
from the wreckage.

"Right now our top priority is to find the three remaining crew
members," said Capt. Jack Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Southern
Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in Latin America.

McCaffrey said Monday that the plane may have slammed into a mountain
that was not on the crew's map.

The wreckage is located at about 8,500 feet on a cloud-covered slope
where visibility Wednesday was less than 10 feet, according to Capt.
Miller.

The crew included two U.S. Army captains, a warrant officer and two
enlisted men who were based at Fort Bliss in El Paso, as well as two
Colombian air force officers. Colombian media reported Wednesday that
the pilot was a woman. The Southern Command declined to identify the
soldiers aboard the plane or list their hometowns.

Once the remains are recovered, they will be transported to Bogota,
the Colombian capital, then flown to the United States.

In the interview Wednesday, Pastrana defended his efforts to negotiate
a peace pact with the guerrillas to end Colombia's 35-year-old civil
war. The initiative was nearly derailed by guerrilla attacks and
flagging public support.

"When we look at the big picture ... the problems that have come up in
the last 10 or 11 months are very small, and they must not jeopardize
the peace process," Pastrana said.

Pastrana, 44, who took office last August, met with Manuel "Sureshot"
Marulanda, the top leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, or FARC, rebels and agreed to withdraw government troops
from a huge swath of territory as a goodwill gesture.

But the FARC has refused to make any concessions. The rebels have
postponed talks, and have used the demilitarized zone to launch
attacks against the Colombian police and army. As a result, the two
sides have yet to sit down for formal negotiations.

Pastrana said the combat should come as no surprise since the two
sides never agreed to stop shooting.

"I know of very few peace initiatives in which there is first a
cease-fire," he said.

"I would prefer to negotiate during peace time, but they (the rebels)
have indicated that they prefer to make peace during war, and that's
what they are demonstrating," he said.

Pastrana acknowledged that hard-line elements in the FARC oppose
talks. The FARC, which has about 17,000 fighters, has the upper hand
on the battlefield and makes millions of dollars annually through
kidnappings and providing protection to drug traffickers.

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