U.S. TRIPLES DRUG-WAR MONEY FOR COLOMBIA

The Clinton administration initially opposed it, and the Colombian
government was taken by surprise. But a recent congressional initiative,
spurred by direct appeals to conservative Republicans by the Colombian
national police, has more than tripled drug-fighting money to Colombia and
made the country a top recipient of U.S. foreign aid.

The increase brings the assistance to $289 million for 1999, up from $80
million in 1997 and $88.6 million this year. It is mainly in the form of
weapons, helicopters and surveillance planes and will sharply increase the
American-supplied firepower to the Colombian police.

Congressional Republicans are calling it the first installment of a
three-year campaign to reduce substantially the flow of illicit drugs into
the United States.

But critics fear that the huge jump in aid and the heightened U.S. interest
in attacking the drug trade at its source will lure Washington into
supporting the seemingly endless war by Colombia's armed forces against
leftist guerrillas, which has slowly bled Colombia of tens of thousands of
lives and untold resources for more than 30 years.

While the money has been designated for use against drug growers and drug
traffickers, much of the equipment could easily be used against the
guerrillas. The equipment will require substantial American training of
pilots, maintenance workers and support staff.

In the appeal for aid by the Colombian police and in the congressional
response, the distinction between drug traffickers and guerrillas usually
insisted on by officials of the State Department and other American agencies
has become blurred.

Some guerrilla groups are involved in protecting coca crops and landing
strips in southern Colombia and skim a commission from the drug trade. A
report last year by the Colombian drug police estimated that 3,155 of the
country's 15,000 guerrillas were active in the drug trade.

Some lawmakers including Rep. Benjamin Gilman (R-N.Y.) have adopted the
label applied to the rebels by the Colombian police and
military--narco-terrorists-- lumping the insurgency and drug traffickers
into a single threat to U.S. interests.

The Colombian drug police have at times dropped the distinction altogether.
For instance, they recently highlighted an army defeat at the hands of
rebels to press the case for acquiring American-made Blackhawk helicopters,
even though the combat had nothing to do with drugs.

Most of the increase in aid will come as part of a $690 million package of
supplemental appropriations for drug interdiction throughout the hemisphere.

The $165 million in supplemental aid from Congress is in addition to $124
million already appropriated for Colombia and represents a tenfold increase
in counter-narcotics funding over five-year period.

"It was a decision that surprised everybody," Colombia's defense minister,
Rodrigo Lloreda, said in an interview. He added that the Clinton
administration had previously supported drug-fighting efforts in Colombia,
"but they kept a certain balance between Colombia, Peru and other
countries."

Though Congress took the lead, the increased spending matches a growing
closeness between Washington and Bogota since Andres Pastrana was elected
president last summer. Pastrana, who has visited Washington three times in
the last four months.

The momentum for the increase came from a group of conservative Republicans
who have embraced the Colombian national police and who are determined to
increase anti-drug efforts and lend a show of force as Pastrana sets the
stage for peace talks with leftist rebels.

Checked-by: Don Beck