COLOMBIA HAILS LIFTING OF SANCTIONS

Samper Government Continues to Assail U.S. Certification Process

BOGOTA, Colombia, Feb. 26-The government of President Ernesto Samper said
today that the U.S. decision to waive two-year-old sanctions against
Colombia and end its pariah status in the international war on drugs shows
that Washington has finally recognized the extent of this nation's efforts
in combating drug trafficking.

But while asserting that the U.S. policy shift represents "a normalizing"

of often tense relations between the two countries, the Colombian
government continued to criticize the annual congressionally mandated
certification process.

Signed into law in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan, the process calls for
the administration to certify whether nations are being fully cooperative
with the United States in the global war on illicit drug trafficking.

Decertified nations are subject to sanctions -- that is, restrictions on
U.S. assistance to combat drug dealing. In today's action, the State
Department did not certify Colombia as fully cooperative but chose to waive
the two-year-old sanctions in the interest of "U.S. national security."

Foreign Minister Maria Emma Mejia said in an interview today that the U.S.

certification system "is a mechanism that is not effective or fair and one
that creates confrontation more than cooperation; it has lost its touch
[after] 12 years.

"Nowadays, we have so many multilateral mechanisms; unilateralism is not
the way to go anymore," Mejia said.

Samper, who by law cannot seek a second term and will step down after
elections in May, described today's decision as a victory for his
administration and his country. Colombia, with 35 million people, is the
world's biggest producer and distributor of cocaine and a leading supplier
of heroin and marijuana. Washington's two-year decertification was driven
largely by accusations that Samper, in his 1994 presidential campaign,
received at least $6 million in illegal contributions from Colombia's Cali
drug cartel. He has denied the accusations.

Tonight, Samper said that years of recriminations between the two countries
are a thing of the past. "Welcome to a new stage of relations based on
cooperation and mutual help," he said in a speech on the certification
issue given at the presidential palace.

In Washington, Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright said the sanctions
waiver was issued in recognition that Colombian anti-drug forces "have
conducted an effective eradication and interdiction effort."

"But the current government has not demonstrated full political support for
counter-narcotics efforts," Albright said. "Coming on the eve of that
country's congressional and presidential elections, the waiver decision is
intended to lay the groundwork for increased cooperation and to support
those in Colombia who are striving to strengthen the rule of law and
buttress their embattled democracy."

Barry R. McCaffrey, the Clinton administration's drug policy chief, said
the U.S. decision in no way signals a change of heart regarding Samper,
whose U.S. visa was revoked in 1996.

In its bid to show progress in the war on drugs, Colombia has been
aggressive in such areas as eradicating drug crops, seizing traffickers'
assets, arresting drug lords and stiffening penalties for drug-related
crimes and money laundering.

According to government figures, Colombian and U.S. law enforcement
authorities last year sprayed herbicides on more than 127,000 acres of coca
and poppy fields -- which could have produced 159,000 pounds of cocaine
hydrochloride and 20,611 pounds of heroin per harvest. Generally, there are
two poppy harvests and at least three harvests of coca per year.

In addition, the Colombian government enforced asset-forfeiture measures
against more than 1,500 properties and 27 companies, as well as some
legitimate organizations that had received drug money.

"If you review our efforts, we should have gotten full certification,"

Mejia said. "We are learning and getting more skillful and more committed.

We will give this to the next government and stay on the right track."

Sergio Uribe, a consultant on drug issues for such organizations as the
Inter-American Development Bank and the United Nations, said the sanction
waiver will, among other things, give Colombia greater access to
international banks, "where the country has not been able to get soft funds
and guarantees for investments."

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