U.S. DEA CHIEF, COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT PATCH UP TIES

BOGOTA, (Reuters) - Top U.S. anti-drugs official Thomas Constantine met
Colombian President Andres Pastrana Thursday in the latest sign that
Washington was recovering its dented confidence in Bogota's commitment to
the drug war.

Constantine, chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), was making
his second visit this year to Colombia, the world's leading supplier of
cocaine and a major player in the high-grade heroin trade.

But last time Constantine did not meet with former President Ernesto
Samper, whom U.S. officials insisted was a ``truly corrupt president''
after allegations that he bankrolled his 1994 election campaign with drug
money.

Those claims were instrumental in the U.S. decision to ''decertify''
Colombia in 1996 and 1997, essentially blacklisting the South American
nation for failing to crack down hard enough on the drug trade. The move
sent U.S.-Colombian relations to an all-time low.

Pastrana, who took office Friday, also met President Clinton and other
officials at the White House shortly before taking office, promising his
administration would open a ``new era'' in ties between the two nations.

Constantine's visit Wednesday and Thursday coincided with an announcement
by National Police chief Gen. Rosso Jose Serrano that Washington had
pledged $208 million in anti-drugs funding to Colombia over the next three
years, including technical aid and materiel.

Those figures could not be immediately confirmed with U.S. officials.

In addition to meeting with Pastrana for half an hour in the Casa de Narino
presidential palace, Constantine met with police and armed forces chiefs.

During his stay he laid a wreath in a military chapel in Bogota in memory
of some 140 security force members who died last week in a nationwide
offensive by Marxist rebels, the worst wave of political violence in
several years.

One of the rebels' targets was an anti-drugs base in the southeast jungle
town of Miraflores where more than 40 police and soldiers were killed and
129 others were taken prisoner by the rebels.

All Colombia's other anti-drug bases were put on red alert Wednesday after
reports that guerrillas were gearing up for new attacks.

Colombian and U.S. officials have accused the country's estimated 20,000
guerrillas of wholesale links with the drug trade -- charges the rebels deny.

Constantine also rejected local media reports that DEA agents and other
U.S. personnel based around Colombia were being pulled back to the capital
after last week's rebel attacks.

``I have tremendous confidence in Colombia's National Police and other
institutions, including the military, to be able to handle the problem of
narco-trafficking, whatever form it may evolve into,'' Constantine said.

^REUTERS@

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski