PRESIDENT-ELECT AIMS TO "DE-NARCOTIZE" RELATIONS

BOGOTA, (IPS) - Colombian President-elect Andres Pastrana will seek to
improve relations with the United States, while shifting the focus of
bilateral ties away from the war on drugs, according to future Foreign
Minister Guillermo Fernandez.

Fernandez announced that Pastrana would meet with President Bill Clinton on
Aug. 3 to discuss issues such as trade, human rights, peace policy and, of
course, cooperation in anti-drug efforts.

One of Pastrana's campaign pledges was to "de-narcotize" relations with the
United States and orient his foreign policy along the lines of defense of
national interests.

"Our relations with the United States should be harmonious and of mutual
respect," which "has not been easy," said Fernandez, alluding to the
deterioration bilateral ties have suffered under the government of President
Ernesto Samper, whose campaign coffers were allegedly swollen with drug money.

Under Samper, Colombia received a negative mark from Washington as an ally
in the war on drugs for three years in a row, and in 1996 the Clinton
administration canceled Samper's entry visa to the United States.

Designated Foreign Minister Fernandez said yesterday that Clinton's
invitation of Pastrana was a signal that Washington was interested in
healing bilateral relations.

Unlike Samper, who from the very start of his term felt the weight of U.S.
censure, Pastrana received a message from the Washington after his late June
victory in the polls, in which Clinton expressed his hope to establish very
close cooperation with Colombia's new government.

But Pastrana faces several big hurdles that will make it difficult to
"de-narcotize" relations, said Luis Valencia, an expert in international
relations with the private University of los Andes.

Valencia told IPS that the United States sees producer countries as mainly
responsible for the fight against drugs, "and Pastrana will have to move in
that terrain."

The analyst said that while Pastrana was heading to Washington in search of
support for Colombia's budding peace process and cooperation to help
strengthen the economy, the only response he may receive is more talk of the
war on drugs.

Coletta Youngers with the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights
group, told a local daily in Bogota that views in the United States on
relations with Colombia were divided, even within the government.

To the question of drug trafficking is added Colombia's poor human rights
record, which Washington blames on the Samper administration, due to either
action or failure to act.

The key issue on the State Department's agenda for Pastrana's visit is the
restoration of extradition with retroactivity, which would allow the heads
of the powerful Cali cartel to be tried in U.S. courts.

Last year the Colombian Congress approved extradition, but because of the
lack of a clause on retroactivity, it has been impossible for the government
to extradite kingpins of the Cali cartel, Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez
Orejuela, to the United States.

The United States wants Colombia's new government to strictly enforce the
law of seizure of illicitly obtained assets, fight money laundering, stiffen
sentences for drug-related crimes, reinforce security in prisons housing
drug barons, and step up the destruction of illegal crops.

But in order to boost the eradication of coca and other crops, the Pastrana
administration will have to effectively extend its initial overtures to the
guerrillas into a full-fledged peace process. U.S. officials stress that the
dismantling of all armed factions -- guerrillas as well as right-wing
paramilitary groups -- is essential to fomenting cooperation in anti-drug
efforts and commerce.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett