RENO OPENS TWO-DAY COLOMBIA VISIT

BOGOTA, Colombia - Attorney General Janet Reno toured a camp for
refugees from Colombia's catastrophic earthquake and met with justice
officials Wednesday, opening a two-day trip to the world's top
cocaine-producing nation.

Accompanied by first lady Nohra Pastrana, Reno visited refugees in
Armenia, the western city that was hardest hit by the Jan. 25
earthquake, which killed at least 1,171 people and left 250,000 homeless.

At a soccer stadium where 120 families are living in tents, Reno,
wearing a straw hat to block out a strong sun, praised quake victims'
courage and said the United States hoped to increase its $10 million
aid commitment to the stricken region.

"It's magnificent what people are able to do in these situations,"
said Reno, before returning to the capital, Bogota, where she was
scheduled to meet with President Andres Pastrana.

She also met with chief prosecutor Alfonso Gomez and National Police
director Gen. Rosso Jose Serrano. Afterward, she called Colombia "a
great country" and praised the work of its police force in combating
drugs.

On the eve of her visit, police in Bogota on Tuesday captured 40-year
old Armando Pedraza, a suspected heroin trafficker wanted by
authorities in Italy and Switzerland.

Relations with Washington were acrimonious during the administration
of former President Ernesto Samper, who left office last year.
Outraged over a $6 million contribution from the Cali drug cartel to
Samper's 1994 campaign, the Clinton Administration revoked the
president's visa and twice "decertified" Colombia as a drug-war ally.

Relations have warmed under Pastrana, who has visited President
Clinton at the White House twice since his election.

Confirming the improved ties, Washington last week fully certified
Colombia's anti-narcotics cooperation last year despite a more than 25
percent increase in the country's production of coca, the raw
ingredient for cocaine.

A key issue that could cause rifts between the governments is whether
Colombia will agree to extradite alleged drug traffickers wanted by
U.S. prosecutors for bringing cocaine and heroin into the United States.

Four drug suspects have been captured since last year on requests by
the United States, however their extradition must be approved by the
Colombian government and Supreme Court, said Gomez.