McCaffrey says Colombia under ``terrible threat''

BOGOTA (Reuters) U.S. drug czar Barry McCaffrey said Monday that Marxist
rebels, whom he referred to disparagingly as ``narcoguerrillas'', posed a
major threat to Colombian democracy.

``Colombia faces a great threat ... the terrible direct threat to democracy
of 15,000 narcoguerrillas,'' McCaffrey said.

The retired army general, who arrived in Colombia Sunday for a threeday
visit, spoke after a ceremony at National Police headquarters in the
capital where he and senior defense and military officials paid a solemn
tribute to policemen killed fighting on the frontline of Colombia's drug war.

The latest, among hundreds of Colombian police gunned down in the fight
against drugs over the last decade, included two officers killed Sunday in
eastern Meta province where authorities dismantled two clandestine drug
laboratories that had been protected by Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC) rebels.

In addition to the two dead, Col. Leonardo Gallego, chief of the
antinarcotics division of the National Police, told reporters five police
helicopters were hit by FARC sharpshooters during the sweep against the
Meta drug labs.

``There were various attacks committed by members of FARC columns operating
in the area,'' Gallego, who personally oversaw the sweep, said Monday.

He did not elaborate. However, Gallego and other top police and military
officials have said repeatedly that the FARC has become an increasingly
important player in the drug trade and argued that it has become virtually
impossible to draw the line between counternarcotics and counterinsurgency
operations in Colombia.

In an interview last week with El Tiempo, Colombia's leading newspaper,
McCaffrey signaled Washington's concern at the growing military might of
the rebels, whom he accused of being ''funded by millions of dollars in
drug money.''

He has been vague about whether the United States was considering beefed up
assistance for Colombia's police and military, both of whom are accused of
serious human rights violations. But he strongly hinted, in his comments
Monday, that he favored additional aid.

``Narcotrafficking isn't about profits, it's not about breaking the law,
it's not about politics it's about death, the destruction of human
life,'' McCaffrey said.

``Children and families, police and soldiers on the battlefield, they
deserve our support,'' he added. ``We understand that everyone's democratic
institutions are threatened.''

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