Colombia's leader says U.S. meddling in its politics

Reuters News Service

BOGOTA, Colombia President Ernesto Samper criticized "foreign
interference" in Colombian politics Tuesday after a frontrunning
presidential candidate denounced a U.S. inspired "dirty war" against his
campaign.

Samper, coming to the aid of his exinterior minister and righthand man
Horacio Serpa, also deplored what he described as "trafficking in the honor
of Colombians abroad."

Samper's remarks were his first about a mushrooming controversy in Bogota
over a report in this week's editions of Newsweek. The magazine quoted
senior U.S. officials, who it did not identify by name, as saying
Washington had "solid proof" of Serpa's alleged ties to the drug trade.

Serpa, who denies any wrongdoing, has branded the report a "fairy tale" and
part of a "dirty war" against his candidacy. He also demanded, in a letter
to U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright Monday, that Washington go
public immediately with any supposed evidence it has of his drug ties.

Samper, who was nearly ousted last year on charges that his 1994 campaign
received millions of dollars in financing from the Cali drug cartel, has
long complained of backhanded tactics by Washington aimed at weakening his
crisisplagued administration.

Despite his ties 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.

In a separate development, regional officials said many candidates running
for local office were elected with just a handful of votes in Colombia's
weekend elections because of mass abstention by voters frightened by
leftist and rightist threats.

The officials said intimidation by both sides opened the door to the
election of scores of "illegitimate" local governments across the country.

In many parts of eastern and southern Colombia, turnout was measured in
single figures as voters heeded rebel orders to boycott the poll under
threat of death. Mayors in at least nine towns were elected with fewer than
20 votes, in some cases with just a single ballot in their favor.

"Where turnout was very low the elections may well have been legal but not
necessarily legitimate. That may generate grave problems in the near future
because local government will be seen as weak," said Gilberto Toro,
chairman of the Federation of Municipalities, which represents mayors and
town councils.

In remarks to reporters, Samper urged Washington and the foreign press to
keep out of Colombian politics in the run up to congressional elections in
March and a presidential poll in May.

"The Colombian government won't allow foreign interference of any kind in
the presidential or legislative campaigns," he said. "Anyone who has
charges or evidence to present against any of the legislative or
presidential candidates has the mechanisms provided by judicial authorities
to do so.

"At no point will we allow people to continue trafficking in the honor of
Colombians abroad through rumors, suppositions, reports that are never made
public and anonymous news leaks," he added.

Serpa has been one of Samper's most loyal and vocal defenders and is the
politician most closely identified with his government. A leftleaning
populist and frequent critic of U.S. policy toward Colombia, he was closely
involved in Samper's election campaign and remains under investigation by
the prosecutorgeneral's office because of his role in it.

In an interview early Monday, he answered "of course" when asked if he
would withdraw from the presidential race if evidence surfaced, in Bogota
or Washington, linking him to criminal wrongdoing.

"How would it look for a person linked to the Mafia to be aspiring after
the presidency of Colombia?" he asked.