BUSH AIMS TO EXTEND ANTI-DRUGS FUNDING FOR COLOMBIA

President George W. Bush has backed an extension next year of Plan
Colombia, the US military and counter-narcotics aid programme, during
a lightning summit yesterday with his Colombian counterpart, Alvaro
Uribe.

Mr Bush said he would work to ensure Congress approved continued
assistance to Colombia.

"I will ask our Congress to renew this aid," he told Mr
Uribe.

"We are with you in this fight," Mr Bush said. "The government of
President Uribe has not let us down."

Mr Uribe said: "We trust the US and President Bush will continue with
the help until Colombia will be free of terrorism and the drugs
plague. We cannot leave the job until we have finished."

Mr Bush arrived in Cartagena, a former Spanish colonial city on
Colombia's Caribbean coast, shortly before midday amid the country's
biggest security operation for a foreign dignitary.

About 15,000 army troops and security personnel were deployed to guard
against any threat to security. Black Hawk helicopters and fighter
jets patrolled the skies above the city while two submarines monitored
the usually bustling but now silent sea-port.

The summit, during Mr Bush's first foreign trip since his re-election,
has given rise to suggestions that greater attention to Latin America
might feature in US foreign policy during the president's second term
in office, despite continued instability in Iraq and elsewhere in the
Arab world. Since Mr Bush was first elected in 2000, Latin America has
undergone an important political shift, with several countries
electing leftwing governments averse to US policy, particularly on
trade.

Mr Uribe is Mr Bush's closest ally in the region, sharing the US
leader's focus on a "war on terror". Under Plan Colombia, the country
has become the largest recipient of US military aid outside the Middle
East. However, the programme, which has pumped about $3bn (=802.3bn,
UKP 1.6bn) into Colombia in the past five years, expires next year,
and Colombia is hoping that the assistance will continue. Mr Uribe's
term runs until 2006 and he may be re-elected.

Since coming to power two years ago, the popular Mr Uribe has pursued
a tough line against rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (Farc), Latin America's oldest and most ferocious guerrilla
army. Kidnappings for ransom and terrorist incidents have fallen
significantly in number under his tough leadership, while the police
and army have made inroads into the drugs industry. Colombia produces
most of the world's cocaine.

However, most analysts agree that the Uribe government has little
chance of finishing off the Farc or forcing the guerrillas to the
negotiating table unless US military aid continues.