Military Aid For Colombia Drug War

By Diana Jean Schemo
New York Times

Bogota

Deepening its involvement in a country that it has held at arm's length for
years, the United States has approved sending more than $50 million in
equipment to help Colombia's military fight guerrillas involved in drug
trafficking.

The aid was granted after the military promised to im" prove its protection
of human rights. Colombia is grappling with increasingly violent rebeJs who
have formed alliances to drug traffickers across the country, especially in
the south.

While the United States stipulated that the aid, approved this summer, be
used solely to fight drug trafficking, the commander of Colombia's armed
forces, General Jose Manuel Bonett, says the materiel could be used to
fight insurgents anywhere in the area identified by U.S.
officialsessentially the southern half of the country whether or not the
rebels are involved in drugs.

Approval for the aid came through special presidential authority and is
contingent on confirmation that the units getting the equipment, all of
which is considered to be nonlethal, have not been accused of violat. ing
human rights. The confir~ mation is to be provided by Colombia.

General Barry McCaffrey, architect of the White House antidrug efforts,
who visited Bogota this week, said the aid did not represent a policy change.

Colombia would normally be ineligible for military aid because President
Clinton has ruled that it is not fighting drugs with vigor. However, in
September 1996 and again last summer, Clinton invoked spe~ cial authority
to provide equipment and supplies for antidrug efforts in Colombia.

He also waived a ban on military sales, saying they were im" portent to
U.S. national security. But that aid was also contingent on an agreement by
the Colombian police and armed forces to observe human rights.

The police agreed to those conditions quickly, but the military did not
accept them until August.

The agreement raises the difficult question of arming a military well known
for abusing human rights. The Colombian police, who are receiving about
$100 million in aid, do not share the army's poor rights record.

The State Department, the National Security Council and the Drug
Enforcement Administration all advised McCaffrey against visiting Colombia
and shaking hands with President Ernesto Samper. Samper was accused of
accepting $6 million in campaign cantributions from drug traffickers, but
he was cleared by the Colombian Congress.

During his visit, McCaffrey acknowledged that rightwing militias who
officials say are responsibie for two thirds of the politically motivated
killings in Colombia, are also involved in drug trafficking, but he singled
out the leftists for scorn, referring to them as "narcoguerrilas."