U.S. LEADS SEARCH FOR PLANE LOST IN COLOMBIA

BOGOTA, Colombia -- An exhaustive aerial search in southern Colombia for a
missing spy plane carrying five U.S. soldiers and two Colombians yielded no
results Saturday, but American officials clung to the possibility that
those aboard were still alive.

The aircraft, a four-engine de Havilland RC-7, disappeared early Friday
after taking off from a Colombian military base about 45 miles southeast of
Bogota. Officials said the U.S. Army plane was on a routine anti-narcotics
reconnaissance mission. Bad weather, including low cloud cover, was
reported near the takeoff point.

On Saturday, U.S.-led rescue teams flying American and Colombian airplanes
and helicopters scoured the mountains of southwestern Colombia, a
stronghold of powerful leftist guerrillas and a rich cocaine-producing area.

"We've not located anything yet," said U.S. Air Force Capt. Jack Miller,
spokesman with the military's Southern Command in Miami. "But we're still
looking for seven survivors."

The names of the Americans were not released, but Miller said they were two
captains, a warrant officer and two enlisted men.

In the past 2 1/2 years, three U.S. pilots training Colombian pilots have
died here. The Americans, specialists in the spraying of illegal drug
plantations, including coca and poppy fields, were under contract with the
U.S. State Department.

Their deaths highlighted what critics say is the increasing role of the
U.S. military in Colombia, where a civil war has raged for decades.

The latest reconnaissance operation was already raising questions about the
U.S. role in Colombia, the world's top cocaine producer and a growing
supplier of the heroin sold on American streets.

Critics said they were troubled because the U.S. normally engages in
anti-drug operations with Colombia's National Police. On Friday, according
to local news reports, the two Colombians on board with the Americans were
members of Colombia's military.

In recent months, the rebels, known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, or FARC, have humiliated the administration of President Andres
Pastrana by staging attacks close to the capital, Bogota. Peace talks begun
earlier this year have stalled.

U.S. and Colombian officials say that the rebels are linked to the drug
trade, generating hundreds of millions of dollars a year by offering
protection for drug barons.

According to intelligence reports, the rebels, who number between 15,000
and 20,000, control as much as half the country.

Colombian officials recently were in Washington, requesting additional
military aid. The administration's top drug control official, former Gen.
Barry McCaffrey, has asked that the $280 million Colombia gets to fight
drug trafficking be tripled. McCaffrey is to arrive in Colombia on Sunday
for a two-day visit.

The White House is concerned that the fighting could disrupt oil operations
in neighboring Venezuela, America's biggest foreign oil supplier, and
threaten the nearby Panama Canal.

Although the U.S. insists that American aid used to fund anti-drug
operations in Colombia is not intended to be used to fight the guerrillas,
the lines have become increasingly blurred because of the role the rebels
play in narcotics trafficking. The U.S., however, recently acknowledged in
a report that it had provided the Colombian military with intelligence on
rebel positions. The rebels also have threatened to attack U.S. targets in
Colombia.