U.S. TELLS COLOMBIA TO IMPROVE RIGHTS RECORD BEFORE IT GETS AID

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 -- The House attached a series of conditions to
American aid to Colombia today, demanding that the government hold
right-wing paramilitary groups and their military allies accountable for
violence there. The Senate, which initiated the restrictions, is expected
to concur.

Under the conditions, the secretary of state must certify that the
commander of the Colombian armed forces suspends troops that violate human
rights and make them available for prosecution in civilian courts. The
Colombian military must also sever links to paramilitary groups that have
thrived, often with military intelligence and supplies, in an increasingly
brutal showdown with leftist guerrillas.

"The Congress wants to provide assistance, but not a blank check, given the
history of the Colombian armed forces and the abuses that have gone on, as
well as the failures of the Colombian judicial system to hold people
accountable," said Tim Rieser, an aide to Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the
Vermont Democrat, who sponsored the language.

At stake is more than $300 million in United States assistance, which the
Bush administration has earmarked for Colombia as part of a regional Andean
counter-drug program. The United States has already allocated $1.3 billion
in mostly military aid under Plan Colombia, which started under President
Clinton.

Administration officials said they would support the conditions on the aid
and expected the Colombian government to take additional steps to halt
violence from the right. Lorne W. Craner, the assistant secretary for human
rights, delivered that message in Colombia in meetings this week with
President Andres Pastrana and military leaders, officials said.

"We are fully in agreement that we need to get the Colombian government to
do more," said one official. "We're fairly confident the Colombians will
respond with what's necessary."

While some American diplomats complained that Congress was intruding into
Mr. Bush's direction of foreign policy, they said they did not believe the
measures would disrupt the flow of aid or overall antidrug strategy in
Colombia.

The conditions were outlined in a conference report on spending on foreign
operations that was approved by the House today and goes to the Senate on
Thursday.

The conditions include the gradual release of the aid, with 40 percent of
the funds held up pending another State Department certification of
improved conditions, and a requirement that the United States deny visas to
members of paramilitary groups and their supporters.

In addition, lawmakers are requiring that the American-backed fumigation
program to eradicate coca meets the same health and safety standards that
would apply in the United States. Some Colombian farmers and
environmentalists have voiced concerns that widespread spraying of the
herbicide glyphosate endangers residents and their land.

The Bush administration counters that the aerial spraying is benign and has
been highly successful in curbing production in some regions of Colombia.

The United States has long been critical of the human rights record of the
Colombian security forces. In February the State Department reported that
"the armed forces and the police committed serious violations of human
rights" throughout the previous year.