US SHIFTS COURSE ON TERROR CONTACTS

WASHINGTON, (UPI) - Signaling a possible shift in a U.S. ban
on talks with what it considers terrorist organizations, an American
diplomat met secretly in Costa Rica last month with members of a
Colombian extremist group responsible for the kidnappings and deaths
of numerous American citizens.

U.S. officials said today that Phillip Chicola, office director in the
bureau of Andean affairs at the State Department, met in December with
representatives of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia at a
secret location in Costa Rica.

They said the sole purpose of the talks, which came at the behest of
the Colombian government, was to uncover information about kidnapped
or missing Americans and to inform the group that the United States
would not stop its counter-narcotics programs in Colombia.

The United States adopted an iron-clad policy nearly two decades ago
of neither meeting nor negotiating with such organizations, a rule
that has been drawn into question by the recent talks in Costa Rica.

State Department spokesman James Rubin defended the contacts, saying
the Clinton administration would meet with them or other extremist
groups if it advanced U.S. policy.

``We have met with people who we think it is appropriate to meet
with,'' Rubin said. ``That's why we are policymakers, and we make the
judgment of whether we think it will advance America's
interests.''

The FARC, the Spanish acronym for the Colombian group, is the largest
and best-trained guerrilla organization in the Latin American nation.
Heavily financed by narcotics trafficking, the FARC carries out
military operations and kidnappings against the government and foreign
interests in an attempt to seize power.