POWELL SUPPORTS COLOMBIAN ANTI-DRUG MOVE

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday he wants
to strengthen Colombia's ability to fight drug dealers and terrorists but
added that continued rights abuses by the Colombian military must stop.

Powell, who arrived here for talks with President Alvaro Uribe, reaffirmed
that U.S. military and nonmilitary assistance is expected to increase to
$500 million from $300 million.

He said 72 U.S. helicopters have been delivered to Colombian security
forces this year, part of a huge increase in security assistance since 2000.

But Powell said he planned to tell Uribe during a meeting Wednesday that
human rights must be a Colombian priority as it combats the country's
endemic lawlessness.

"There will be a big expectation that that, as the Colombian armed forces
and the Colombian police are strengthened to deal with this problem, there
can be no tolerance for abuse of human rights of the kind that has been
seen in the past," Powell said.

Powell arrived at a military airport in Bogota amid heavy security. Two
military helicopters circled over the city, while more than 50 motorcycle
police officers and hundreds of soldiers were deployed to guard the route
to his hotel.

In a predeparture interview with a Colombian newspaper, Powell said he sees
the visit as a show of support for Uribe in his efforts to fight "those
terrorist elements within Colombian society who are trying to destroy the
dream of the Colombian people to have a democracy that gives them a society
that is safe."

Besides drug trafficking, Uribe faces a host of problems, including a
long-running civil war, but American officials say the country appears to
be headed in the right direction. In contrast, the situation is worsening
in Latin America's other troubled countries.

Powell said there has been a significant expansion in coca eradication
efforts in Colombia this year but he added that the country has not reached
the point where eradication is outstripping coca plantings.

Other officials said Uribe, who has been in office a little over 100 days,
has fewer inhibitions about eradicating fields of coca, the raw material of
cocaine, than did his predecessor, Andres Pastrana. Colombia is the source
of 90 percent of the cocaine and much of the heroin consumed in the United
States.

The current spraying campaign is far more extensive than previous efforts,
leaving officials hopeful that coca farmers, particularly in southwestern
Putumayo Province, will become discouraged and try their hand at legal
crops. One problem with the program is that spraying does not discriminate;
it wipes out legal as well as illicit crops.

If farmers can be turned away from cocaine, it would reduce revenues of the
country's major guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, and make it more amenable to a negotiated settlement, officials hope.

A peace process begun by Pastrana was broken off last February after
several fruitless years.

The United States has provided well over $1 billion in aid to Colombia
since 2000, mostly in military goods. The aid had been restricted to
counternarcotic work, but the administration has freed the Colombians now
to use it against insurgents.

Last September, the State Department drew protests from U.S. rights groups
after certifying that Colombia's armed forces had met human rights
standards imposed by Congress in three areas. The action cleared the way
for the release of $41 million in military assistance.

After the September decision, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and
the Washington Office on Latin America said the Colombian military had
failed to meet the law in all three areas.

After meetings Wednesday morning with Uribe and other officials, Powell
will tour counternarcotics facilities and then confer with local human
rights groups.

Perhaps the worst abuser of human rights in Colombia, the rightist AUC
paramilitary, announced a unilateral cease-fire last week. Like the leftist
rebels, the AUC also traffics in cocaine.

Powell said it remains to be seen whether the AUC, listed by the State
Department as a foreign terrorist organization, will renounce its
"extralegal, unconstitutional actions."

Even though the AUC is trying to project a new image, Powell said the
administration will continue to seek the extradition of the group's leader,
Carlos Castano.

Castano was indicted in September for allegedly exporting 17 tons of
cocaine into the United States and Europe since 1997.