U.S. drug czar meets with Colombian president

BY VIVIAN SEQUERA Associated Press

BOGOTA, Colombia In a sign of growing concern over threats to Colombia's
democracy, President Clinton's drug policy chief met with the country's
president Monday, ending a twoyear freeze on toplevel U.S. contacts with
the scandaltainted leader.

Drug czar Barry McCaffrey met for 36 minutes with President Ernesto Samper,
who won office in 1994 with $6 million in drug cartel contributions.

Samper's office characterized the meeting as ``frank, wideranging and
cordial.''

But McCaffrey bluntly discounted its significance and said the purpose of
his threeday visit was to show support for honest Colombians who want to
rid their country of drug trafficking and the corruption it breeds.

``President Samper is at the end of his days. He wasn't a factor. He's
simply not a factor. We have to stay engaged with the Colombian people,''
the retired Army general told reporters. Samper leaves office next August.

McCaffrey said ``Colombia is bleeding not only because of drugs but because
it has 15,000 narcoguerrillas.'' Many, but not all, of Colombia's leftist
rebels net millions of dollars annually from protecting drug crops and labs.

In February, just before the United States decertified Colombia for a
second straight year as an ally in the war on drugs, McCaffrey branded
Samper an accomplice of drug traffickers and recommended his continued
political isolation.

But with Colombia's government weakened by charges of corruption and
increasingly threatened by leftist rebels and other armed outlaws, Monday's
meeting reflected worry in Washington that a longstanding South American
democracy may be imperiled.

McCaffrey told Samper that U.S. policy toward Colombia had not changed and
reiterated Washington's position that this country must reinstate
extradition ``without conditions,'' said Juan Carlos Esguerra, Colombia's
ambassador to Washington.

Washington was angered by the Senate's passage last month of an extradition
measure that was not retroactive meaning Cali cartel bosses now in
Colombian jails could never be tried in the United States, where they would
face life imprisonment.

Another vote in the lower house next week could restore retroactivity. A
communique issued by Samper's office said he would ``insist'' on
extradition without conditions.

McCaffrey also told Samper he is concerned about human rights abuses by
private landownerbacked militias. The groups some linked to drug
trafficking murder suspected guerrilla sympathizers with increasing
impunity.

Samper promised McCaffrey his government would confront the militias ``with
the same energy that it is combating Colombian guerrillas.''

In addition to consulting with political and military leaders, McCaffrey
lunched with business leaders and met with human rights representatives.

On Tuesday, he flies south to visit an antidrug police base in a region
thick with rebels and coca plantations.

McCaffrey praised police Monday for risking their lives to combat drugs and
spoke briefly at the funeral of two officers killed by rebel fire Sunday
during a raid on a jungle cocaineprocessing complex 125 miles south of the
capital.

McCaffrey's arrival Sunday for the threeday visit coincided with an
antidrug raid near Loma Linda in Maj. Jario Alberto Castro and agent
Carlos Bolivar lost their lives. The men were killed in a helicopter that
was taking off after police set fire to a drug lab, police said.

The deaths brought to 44 the number of Colombian police killed in
antinarcotics operations over the past 3 1/2 years. Eight aircraft have
also been shot down, and the Colombian antidrug police are keen on getting
four armored Blackhawk helicopters and related U.S. aid worth $50 million.

The aid is being considered by a HouseSenate conference on Capitol Hill
this week.

McCaffrey said Sunday he aims to determine how Washington can help
strengthen Colombian democracy and more effectively back its antinarcotics
efforts.

Guerrillas control large areas of the Colombian countryside and earn tens
of millions of dollars annually from kidnapping, extortion and ``war
taxes'' on drug production.

More than two dozen candidates have been killed, mostly by guerrillas, in a
rebel intimidation campaign aimed at disrupting next Sunday's nationwide
elections for state and municipal officials.

At least 1,500 candidates have withdrawn after receiving death threats.

Many in Washington's antidrug establishment criticized McCaffrey's meeting
with Samper, arguing that it would allow Samper to rehabilitate his sullied
image.

Samper was cleared by a highly partisan congress last year of charges he
solicited the Cali cartel contributions. He denies he knew of the drug
cash, but U.S. officials don't believe him and canceled his tourist visa
last year.

Steady U.S. pressure on Samper's government has been credited with
enactment of the asset forfeiture law, whose application has proven
difficult, and another statute mandating stiffer prison terms for drug
bosses.