U.S. PLEDGES MILITARY HELP TO COLOMBIA IN DRUG WAR

CARTAGENA, Colombia. Nov. 30, 1998 -- Secretary of Defense William
Cohen and Colombia's new president, Andres Pastrana, announced steps
Monday to intensify military cooperation in the war on drug
trafficking, including a pledge to increase Pentagon training of
Colombia's armed forces and to share more aerial and satellite
intelligence data. The United States and Colombia have worked closely
together to stanch the flow of drugs for decades, but the new steps
underscored the deepening of American diplomatic and military
engagement after the election of Pastrana, a reformist who replaced
Ernesto Samper.

On Tuesday, Cohen and Colombia's defense minister, Rodrigo Lloreda,
are scheduled to sign an agreement setting up a formal working group
that will bring officials from both countries together for regular
consultations. The United States has similar relationships with
Argentina, Chile and Mexico.

The agreements come on the heels of a sharp increase in aid and
equipment, including six Black Hawk helicopters that Congress approved
for Colombia's fight against narcotics as part of last month's
increase in spending on defense and intelligence. The aid will total
$289 million, nearly triple the recent annual American contributions
to Colombia's anti-drug efforts.

Much of the discussion during Cohen's meetings with Pastrana and other
Colombian leaders here focused on how the United States can help
Colombia's police and military to make the best use of the unexpected
windfall, which was driven by Republicans in Congress.

"Clearly we are being treated completely differently than was the case
during the previous four years,'' Pastrana said Monday, referring to
the Clinton administration's isolation of his predecessor, Samper,
because of evidence indicating he accepted campaign funds from drug
traffickers.

Appearing with Pastrana after a breakfast meeting at the president's
guest house along the bay near this Caribbean port, Cohen praised the
new Colombian government and said the American military was prepared
to help restructure Colombia's armed forces into a modern professional
force.

"Our military background and expertise could be shared with the
Colombian forces to deal with this particular and very serious
problem,'' Cohen said.

Cohen is in Cartagena to attend a three-day conference of defense
ministers from all countries in the Western Hemisphere except Cuba.
The conference, the third since 1995, is meant to increase cooperation
in the fight against drugs and terrorism and to cement the transition
many Latin American countries have begun in establishing civilian
control over their militaries.

That the conference even took place here in Colombia has been seen as
an improvement in Colombia's international standing; last year's
conference, also planned for Cartagena, was canceled because of
tensions over Samper.

Since he was elected four months ago, Pastrana has, by contrast, gone
to Washington twice for meetings with President Clinton. Cohen's
current visit is the highest-level visit to Colombia by a U.S.
official during Clinton's tenure.

Cohen's aides emphasized that any new help to Colombia's police and
military would only involve the fight against drug traffickers and not
against the leftist insurgents who have battled the central government
here for years. But the increasing aid and cooperation has blurred the
line between the two wars Colombia is fighting, raising concerns among
some human rights advocates that the United States is involving itself
in Colombia's civil war.

The Americans agreed, for example, to provide additional aerial and
satellite photographs of a large swath of rebel territory that
Pastrana's government unilaterally evacuated on Nov. 7 as a way to
spur peace talks with the rebels.

A senior American official said Monday that the Colombians wanted the
added intelligence to make sure drug traffickers did not use the
withdrawal to expand operations in the area, but the information could
be used to observe rebel movements as well.

Lloreda, Colombia's defense minister, who expressed pessimism that his
president's gesture would produce a peace accord, said in an interview
that Colombia needed to strengthen the military to defeat the rebels
and that American aid, even if ostensibly devoted to narcotics, helped
that effort.

"The counternarcotics aid will help liberate troops,'' he said, "so
they can fill other roles.''

Checked-by: Patrick Henry