Colombian candidate throws down gauntlet to U.S.

BOGOTA, Oct 28 (Reuters) The frontrunning candidate for next year's
Colombian presidential election vowed to resign on Tuesday if Washington
produced any proof of his alleged ties to the drug trade.

But Horacio Serpa, who has defiantly upped the ante in a high stakes poker
game with the United States, also reiterated his call on the Clinton
administration to speak now or forever hold its peace about his supposed
dealings with drug lords.

Serpa spoke in an interview with local radio, a day after he fired off a
stronglyworded letter to U.S. Secretary fo State Madeleine Albright
demanding that Washington go public with any evidence it has of his
purported links to billionaire cocaine merchants.

The letter was prompted by a report in this week's Newsweek magazine that
quoted senior U.S. officials as saying they had ``solid proof'' of Serpa's
alleged involvement with narcotraffickers.

``I have energetically asked the United States government, if such proof
exists, to present it once and for all,'' Serpa said. ``It's their
responsibility to do so and I think it would be the best way to make
everything absolutely clear,'' he added.

Serpa, President Ernesto Samper's former interior minister and righthand
man, said he was certain there was no evidence in Bogota, Washington or
anywhere else linking him to criminal wrongdoing.

But he answered ``of course'' when asked if he would withdraw from the
presidential race if such evidence were to be made public.

``How would it look for a person linked to the mafia to be aspiring after
the presidency of Colombia?'' he asked. ``It would be the most degrading
and absurd thing.''

Serpa's rhetorical question came despite the fact that he was one of
Samper's most vocal defenders last year, amid the crisis that nearly led to
his impeachment on charges that his 1994 campaign received millions of
dollars in financing from the Cali drug cartel.

Serpa was closely involved in that campaign and he is still under
investigation by the prosecutorgeneral's office for possible drugrelated
corruption stemming from his role in it.

Despite his links to Samper, whose approval rating has plunged to historic
lows in recent polls, Serpa has emerged as the clear frontrunner in the
race to succeed him in elections in May.

And some of Serpa's critics fear that the leftleaning populist will be
strengthened rather than hurt by U.S. murmurings about his alleged criminal
record unless Washington actually comes up with hardhitting evidence
against him.

``There's a tendency to present any U.S. judgment against drug trafficking
in Colombia, and against the links between an important part of its
political class with drug traffickers, as a hostile act of North American
imperialism,'' former justice minister Enrique Parejo told Reuters.

``This is something he (Serpa) will seek to capitalize on politically,'' he
said.

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