IN COLOMBIA, BUSH PROMISES MORE AID TO HELP FIGHT DRUG TRAFFICKERS AND
GUERRILLAS

CARTAGENA, Colombia -- President Bush traveled to the heart of
the international cocaine trade Monday to pledge America's help in the
fight against narco-terrorism.

Stopping in Colombia on his way back from a 21-nation Pacific Rim
summit in Chile, Bush said drug trafficking threatened the stability
of the entire Western Hemisphere. He promised more U.S. aid to help
Colombia fight an alliance of drug traffickers and guerrillas.

"The drug traffickers who practice violence and intimidation in this
country send their addictive and deadly products to the United States.
Defeating them is vital to the safety of our peoples and to the
stability of this hemisphere," Bush said during a joint appearance
with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

The United States has invested more than $3 billion in Colombia's
anti-drug campaign since 2002, but the funding package, known as Plan
Colombia, expires next year. Bush did not say how much more he would
seek from Congress next year.

His four-hour visit to Cartagena, a sweltering colonial city on the
Caribbean coast, was a show of support for Uribe, who won office in
2002 by promising to crack down on drug traffickers and their rebel
allies. Some Colombians have given their Harvard-educated leader the
nickname "Bushito" - little Bush - for his hard-line stance.

More than 15,000 police and military personnel were pressed into
service for Bush's stopover on his way home from a weekend summit with
leaders from Pacific nations in Santiago, Chile. Heavily armed guards
lined his motorcade route from the airport. Helicopters hovered close,
and armed patrol boats scoured the coastline for any sign of trouble.

Uribe is struggling to fulfill his campaign commitment to rein in
Colombia's drug lords and defeat Marxist insurgents who have been
trying to topple the government for 40 years.

"We will win, but we have not won yet," Uribe said, standing next to
Bush under a brutal sun that left both men dripping sweat. "We have
made progress, but the serpent is still alive."

Despite some law-enforcement successes against the Medellin and Cali
drug cartels in the mid-1990s, Colombia is still the world's leading
supplier of refined cocaine. U.S. officials estimate that more than 90
percent of the cocaine that flows into the United States is produced,
processed or shipped through Colombia.

Profits from the Colombian drug trade are estimated at $5 billion a
year, a substantial sum in a country whose annual production of goods
and services is about $75 billion.

The drug trade and the lawlessness that accompanies it have spawned a
side industry of kidnapping. The list of hostages includes three
American contractors - Keith Stansell, Tom Howes and Marc Gonsalves -
who were captured by guerrillas in February 2003 when their
surveillance aircraft crashed in rebel-held territory. The three are
among a growing number of civilian contractors and U.S. military
advisers who have been sent to Colombia to help fight drug
traffickers.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC in its Spanish
initials, the leading insurgent group, has offered to swap the three
men for FARC prisoners held by the Colombian government.

For all its problems, U.S. officials consider Colombia an emerging
success story. Violence is down, the economy is growing by nearly 4
percent annually, and legal trade with the United States has increased
by $1 billion since 2003.

U.S. and Colombian officials say the U.S. investment in the anti-drug
campaign is paying off. The production of coca leaf, the starting
point for cocaine, is down by 20 percent for the second year in a row,
according to U.S. officials.

For the first time in years, Colombia's military is launching
operations against the FARC in rebel-held areas.

After lunch with Uribe, Bush met with some young Colombian baseball
players along with Orlando Cabrera of the Boston Red Sox. Edgar
Renteria of the St. Louis Cardinals, another Colombian who made it to
the big leagues, was scheduled to meet with Bush, but he was unable to
join the gathering.

Bush plans to spend the rest of the week at his Texas ranch, where the
only business on his schedule is a private visit Wednesday with King
Juan Carlos of Spain.