U.S. DEFENDS AID TO WAGE DRUG WAR IN EMBATTLED COLOMBIA

BOGOTA, Colombia -- U.S. drug czar Barry McCaffrey on Monday defended
the costly U.S. aid effort in Colombia, calling the rebel-besieged
country a "democratic regime in trouble."

Since the mid-1960s, Marxist rebels have waged war against the
government, and according to U.S. intelligence, they control half--and
perhaps more--of Colombian territory.

In recent weeks, the guerrillas have humiliated the administration of
President Andres Pastrana by taking their fight to the outskirts of
Bogota, the nation's capital. In the past, the rebels generally have
launched attacks in rural areas.

Analysts believe that the heightened guerrilla activity is part of a
campaign to negotiate from a position of strength as rebel leaders
prepare for peace talks with the government.

U.S. and Colombian officials, meanwhile, insist that the rebels
largely finance their war through the drug trade, selling hundreds of
millions of dollars a year in protection to narcotics traffickers.
Critics, however, charge that the rebel link to drug barons is
overblown, that it is an excuse by Washington to increase its military
role here.

At any one time, between 160 and 190 American soldiers are stationed
in Colombia to help with the war on drugs. On Friday, an Army spy
plane carrying five Americans and two Colombians vanished in
southwestern Colombia while on a drug-fighting mission.

Rescue teams spotted a wreckage site near Colombia's border with
Ecuador on Sunday, but because of bad weather and rough terrain,
American officials said they were unable to verify that it was the
missing four-engine de Havilland RC-7.

In recent years, the Clinton administration has increased funding for
the drug war in Colombia, hitting $256 million this year, according to
McCaffrey. He reportedly has asked the administration to seek $1
billion in emergency aid from Congress to help Bogota combat drugs.

Although American aid is to be used exclusively for the war on drugs,
U.S. officials acknowledge that the line between counter-narcotics
operations and counter-insurgency operations sometimes becomes blurred
because of the role the guerrillas play in drug trafficking. For
example, Washington has supplied Colombia with intelligence on rebel
activity as part of counternarcotics efforts by both countries, and
the Colombians are believed to have used that information to attack
rebel battalions in recent weeks.

The rebels have threatened to retaliate against U.S. targets in
Colombia.

At a news conference at the presidential compound Monday, McCaffrey
was asked whether he was concerned that additional aid to Colombia
would get the U.S. "too involved" here. McCaffrey said, "Clearly, we
have a democratic regime in trouble."

He criticized Washington for not paying enough attention to the
growing threat posed by "narco-criminals." McCaffrey, who is in
Colombia on a four-day South American tour, noted that in the past
year there has been a "tremendous explosion" of cocaine and heroin
production.

In addressing American aid, he stressed that it was up to Colombia,
and not the White House, to decide how to spend the money it receives
from Washington.

Colombia, the world's largest cocaine producer, is now the
third-largest recipient of U.S. aid behind Israel and Egypt.

At the news conference, McCaffrey also said that the turmoil in
Colombia not only affected Colombia and the U.S., but the entire
region and the Caribbean.

"Drugs is the heart and soul of many of these problems," McCaffrey
said, "the money, the corruption, and violence that flow from it."

McCaffrey, who was meeting with business leaders and other government
officials, said he was in Colombia to hear first-hand the problems
that the Pastrana administration is facing and to report back to
Washington. He also planned to visit Ecuador and Curacao.

Asked whether the incident of the missing spy plane would hurt
lobbying efforts in Washington for increased aid to Colombia,
McCaffrey declined to comment, saying it would be premature because
the supposed wreckage site had not been examined.

The names of the Americans aboard the plane were not
released.