By Tom Brown

BOGOTA, March 20 (Reuter) There is much sound and fury in Colombia over
Washington's decision to ``decertify'' the country for a second year as an
ally in the fight against drugs, but some diplomats and officials say most of
it signifies nothing.

They say the United States, at the risk of being perceived as a paper
tiger, pulled most of its punch when it did not order any economic sanctions
to back its censure.

President Ernesto Samper denounced U.S. decertification when it was
announced last month, calling it unfair and saying the world's biggest
consumer of illegal drugs had no business setting itself up as a global
policeman.

Government officials have warned that Colombia might downgrade its
relations with Washington because of the move. And Samper abruptly suspended
the aerial spraying of Colombia's illicit drug crops on March 5 in a
retaliatory move that may have been timed to coincide with a rare
antiAmerican protest outside the U.S. Embassy. The spraying has since
resumed.

Officials were especially angered by the certification decision because
Mexico a nation rocked by myriad drug corruption scandals was certified
as a U.S. ally while Colombia was lumped together with Afghanistan, Burma,
Iran, Nigeria and Syria as a country worthy of public opprobrium.

Colombia's Ambassador to Mexico Gustavo De Greiff was among the first to
criticise the ``hypocrisy'' of backing one country, because it shares a
border with the United States and is its partner in free trade, while beating
up another that is far away and of little economic importance to Washington.
``They've treated us like international thugs,'' De Greiff said.

MEXICO SEEN WEIGHING IN COLOMBIA'S FAVOUR

The Colombian government has avoided public comment on the Mexico
decision, however. It can illafford to tarnish the image of a country that
it badly needs as a friend and which has been a leading critic of the annual
drug certification process ever since it was introduced in 1986.

Whether or not it deserved better treatment than Colombia, which U.S.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has described as a country awash in
corruption, diplomats say Bogota benefitted from the scandals that put Mexico
under such close scrutiny during this year's ``certification sweepstakes.''

``They (Washington) were so embarrassed about having to certify Mexico
that they couldn't be too hard on Colombia,'' one Bogotabased diplomat said.
He noted that decertification for a second year could have triggered painful
economic sanctions that Washington fell short of imposing last year. But
sanctions have basically been ruled out for now, and the diplomat said ``that
takes most of the bite out of decertification.''

U.S. State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns warned, after Colombia's
surprise suspension of aerial spraying of coca leaf and opium poppy with
herbicides, that Washington reserved ``the right to take further action''
against Colombia.

But press guidance issued by the State Department on Feb. 28 indicated
that sanctions would only be imposed under enormous provocation.

CELEBRATING BEHIND THE SCENES

Foreign Minister Maria Emma Mejia has called the annual grading of
Colombia's performance in the antidrug fight ``a hateful mechanism'' and
said it confronts the country ``with two enemies drug traffickers and
American decertification.''

Behind the scenes, she and others may well be celebrating, however. As
Finance Minister Jose Antonio Ocampo told reporters recently,
``decertification really has had no harmful effects.''

Colombia's first decertification cut off the country's access to U.S.
military financing and training programmes. It also meant that the Overseas
Private Investment Corporation could no longer underwrite insurance for U.S.
companies investing in the country.

The White House requested a waiver of both cutoffs this time around,
however, and the country is apparently in for no economic punishment at all.

``The outlook is much clearer now that we know the U.S. decision,'' a
statement from Samper's team of economic advisers said. ``Unlike 1996, when
there was no specific statement on the matter, the U.S. government's
declaration regarding Colombia's decertification in 1997 makes it clear that
economic relations between the two countries will not be affected.''

Diplomats predict continued sabrerattling in Colombia in the weeks ahead
as it bridles against U.S. pressure to show an unfailing commitment to the
drug war. They say the noise is likely to die down quickly, however, as the
government gets to work on U.S.imposed ``benchmarks of performance'' that
would ward off the threat of renewed decertification in 1998.

Those benchmarks include lifting the country's constitutional ban on the
extradition of Colombian nationals and the effective implementation of
recently approved antidrug laws. Colombian business leaders have urged
Samper to twist any arms necessary to ensure that extradition is restored
this year.