URIBE PITCHES PEACE PLAN TO BUSH

President Bush Gave Colombian President Uribe A Warm Welcome In Texas, But
Refrained From Endorsing A Peace Plan

WASHINGTON - President Bush extended a warm, Texas-style welcome to
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe at his ranch Thursday as Uribe launched an
effort to build international support for his expensive and controversial
peace plan.

The visitor didn't seem to get the kind of strong backing he was looking
for, but the invitation to join the president at his Crawford ranch
underlined his status as Washington's closest ally in Latin America.

Bush said that the United States and Colombia would work together "to fight
drug trafficking and terrorism, and to promote security, democracy and the
rule of law throughout the Americas."

Bush also praised Uribe as "strong and principled." Uribe's high standing
in Washington comes from his close cooperation with U.S. officials in the
war on drugs, as well as his right-of-center politics in a region now
largely dominated by left-of-center governments.

He is considered one of the keystones in U.S. efforts to isolate his
next-door neighbor, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a leftist who
regularly and fiercely attacks Bush and Washington policies and coordinates
closely with Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

In April, Colombia played a key role in brokering a deal between Washington
and Chile that allowed Chile's then interior minister, Jose Miguel Insulza,
to become secretary general of the Organization of American States.

And Colombia scored a major international victory last month when its
ambassador to the United States, Luis Alberto Moreno, was elected to head
the Inter-American Development Bank. Washington supported Moreno discretely.

Uribe's visit came at a delicate time for Colombia. His government is
looking to implement an amnesty law that sets the legal framework to disarm
15,000 members of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a right-wing
paramilitary organization also known as AUC.

He is trying to raise $130 million for the process but has run into
opposition from human rights groups and some members of U.S. Congress who
say the AUC traffics drugs and is responsible for thousands of murders. The
Bush administration has supported the law as a way to demobilize the
fighters and perhaps shrink Colombia's 40-year civil conflict.

Bush avoided giving the amnesty law an outright endorsement at a news
conference with Uribe, but he promised to lobby Congress for continued
funding of Plan Colombia, the multibillion-dollar anti-drug-trafficking plan.

"I will ask the Congress to sustain our commitment to follow-on programs
for Plan Colombia, so Colombia can build on its progress and win its war
against the narco-terrorists," Bush said.

Colombia has obtained almost $4 billion under the five-year plan, which
formally ends in December. The Bush administration has asked Congress to
extend the program for one more year.

To some analysts, Uribe seemed to come away with few clear gains from his
Texas visit. "It seems to me that President Uribe would have liked specific
support from the administration on demobilization," said Mark Schneider, a
former specialist on Latin America with the U.S. Agency for International
Development. "He didn't get it."

Congress has set conditions for any funding of the demobilization plan,
seeking assurances that Colombia will continue to extradite top drug
traffickers to face U.S. justice and ensure that the AUC networks halt
operations.

This week, the State Department certified that Colombia was doing enough to
ensure that its security forces were held accountable for human rights
excesses, freeing up about $70 million in aid.