U.S. GENERAL WARNS OF GUERRILLA THREAT IN COLOMBIA

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior U.S. general warned Tuesday that Colombia's
armed forces were incapable of defeating left-wing guerrillas and drug
traffickers who have gained control over much of the Colombian countryside.

Gen. Charles Wilhelm, commander of the U.S. Southern Command based in
Miami, said recent attacks and kidnappings were alarming signs of the
growing strength of the insurgency.

``(Colombia) is the most threatened country in the U.S. Southern Command's
area of responsibility,'' he told a congressional hearing.

Wilhelm said the alliance of convenience between guerrillas and traffickers
affected the security of neighboring nations.

He said Colombia's military was confronted by an increasingly violent
guerrilla uprising, an expanding cocaine and heroin industry and brutal
paramilitary organizations that were causing havoc among the civilian
population.

The central government had lost control over 40 percent of the rural
countryside and large groups of people were being displaced by the
violence, he said.

``Colombia is ill-prepared to effectively counter these threats due to its
weak national leadership, an overloaded and often corrupt judiciary and the
ineffectiveness of the security forces,'' Wilhelm said.

The chief of the U.S. Southern Command, which covers Latin America and the
Caribbean, said the guerrillas had rejected peace overtures by the
government because the armed forces had no leverage to bring the rebels to
the negotiating table.

``At this time, I see little hope for a negotiated settlement,'' Wilhelm
told the House International Relations Committee hearing on U.S. drug
policy in Colombia.

``The performance of the Colombian military provides little cause for
optimism that they will be able to reverse the erosion of government
control over the outlying departments,'' he said.

Wilhelm said the Colombian armed forces' mobility and attack capabilities
were deficient, as were its abilities to gather intelligence and to operate
at night or along rivers and coastal areas.

Venezuela has had to deploy 12,000 troops along its border to prevent
incursions by traffickers or armed groups from Colombia, he said.

Guerrillas and traffickers have sought refuge in Panama, and paramilitaries
have pursued them across the border, killing Panamanian civilians thought
to be sympathizers, Wilhelm said.

While U.S.-manned radar stations have helped block the traffickers' air
bridge from Peru and Ecuador to Colombia, the drug trade has spilled over
into Brazil, he said.