U.S. RETHINKS ANTI-DRUG AID TO COLOMBIA

Narcotics: The money might be withheld if foreign officials are turning a
blind eye to illegal activity in the'peace zone.'

Panama City-A Colombian government decision to extend leftist rebel control
over a giant demilitarized zone has prompted a potentially serious policy
dispute with Washington, putting $289 million in U.S. counternarcotics aid
under scrutiny.

The State Department, which manages the U.S. counternarcotics effort, is
questioning whether the "peace zone" the size of Switzerland - the central
feature of Colombia's fragile, 3-month-old peace process - might be
interfering with the "war on drugs."

In interviews, U.S. and Colombian drug-enforcement officials said President
Andres Pastrana's government has ordered all counternarcotics operations
halted in the zone as long as a peace process is under way with leaders of
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the nation's largest
guerrilla group.

The FARC currently controls the 17,000-square-mile zone in south-central
Colombia and dominates other jungle areas known to harbor drug laboratories
and fields and clandestine airstrips.

The deadline for the zone to return to government control expired Sunday.
With no progress to report in the peace talks, Pastrana agreed to let the
rebels remain in the zone unchallenged until at least May.

Spokemen for both the Colombian National Police and the army confirmed this
week that their forces are under orders to regard the zone as off-limits.
All anti-narcotics missions, including assaults on drug-processing
laboratories and aerial eradication of illicit drug crops, have been
suspended since the zone's creation in November, they said.

The Clinton administration "would have a serious problem if that were the
case," said a U.S. official in Washington. "Our understanding from the
Colombian government is that counternarcotics operations are not restricted
in the zone."

He added that extending rebel control of the zone could create an even
bigger issue between the two governments.

Republican members of Congress are warning that a new $289 million U.S. aid
package to Colombia, consisting almost entirely of helicopters and other
counternarcotics assistance, could face suspension if the White House
verifies that Colombia's government is allowing drug traffickers to operate
in the peace zone unchallenged.

The U.S. threatened to block the package entirely last year when Pastrana
announced plans to create the zone.

"No one on Capitol Hill familiar with Colombia and the narco-guerrillas is
the least bit surprised that the zone is going to be extended," said a
senior staff member of the House International Relation Committee.

In approving the $289 million aid package last fall, Congress required the
Clinton administration to certify that the zone was not being used as a
haven for drug traffickers. That procedure is in addition to a countrywide
review, due in March, certifying Colombia as a full partner in the war on
drugs.

The Colombian National Police estimated last year that 76 tons of coca, the
base ingredient for cocaine, are produced annually within the zone,
constituting roughly 12 percent of all production in Colombia.

A U.S Drug Enforcement Administration agent said officials of both countries
have received intelligence reports of ongoing drug-trafficking activities in
the zone since the rebels took over.

"We know they're operating in the zone. We've identified several labs, but
we can't touch them," the DEA agent said. "We were told very clearly by the
Colombians: 'Hands off the zone.'"

The chief of Colomia's anti-narcotics police, Col. Leonardo Gallego,
declined several interview requests.

The Colombia president, who took office in September, has declared peace to
be his top policy priority and insists that the war on drugs not interfere
with the talks. The Clinton administration says fighting drug traffickers
and rebels who support them must take precedence, given Colombia's position
as the source of most cocaine and heroin sold on U.S. streets.

Pastrana inaugurated the peace talks Jan. 7, but his FARC counterpart,
commander Manuel Marulanda, failed to attend the opening session. Later last
month, the rebels unilaterally suspended the talks.