Pubdate: Thu, 31 Aug 2000
Source: International Herald-Tribune (France)
Copyright: International Herald Tribune 2000
Contact:  181, Avenue Charles de Gaulle, 92521 Neuilly Cedex, France
Fax: (33) 1 41 43 93 38
Website: http://www.iht.com/
Author: Karen DeYoung, Washington Post Service

CLINTON GIVES A BOOST TO COLOMBIA DRUG WAR

He Leads A Large U.S. Delegation On Visit

CARTAGENA, Colombia - President Bill Clinton arrived here Wednesday along 
with a large delegation of U.S. cabinet and congressional officials 
designed to demonstrate strong bipartisan support for President Andres 
Pastrana and his battle with Colombia's drug traffickers and 40-year-old 
guerrilla war.

Having returned to Washington only the day before from a four-day African 
tour, a tieless and jacketless Mr. Clinton appeared weary as he stepped off 
Air Force One and into coastal Cartagena's wilting heat with his daughter, 
Chelsea, on his arm.

Virtually the entire Colombian government came from Bogota to meet Mr. 
Clinton and the heads of his White House staff along with Secretary of 
State Madeleine Albright, and Attorney General Janet Reno and an 11-member 
congressional delegation headed by the House speaker, Dennis Hastert, 
Republican of Illinois.

With his wife, defense minister and armed forces chief at his side, Mr. 
Pastrana, in a short-sleeved pink shirt and sunglasses, greeted the 
president. The emphasis in both delegations was on informality as an 
indication of the closeness of the bilateral relationship, and in 
recognition of the temperature of 32 degrees centigrade (90 degrees 
Fahrenheit) or higher.

Cartagena has been blanketed by security this week. The city's 500-strong 
force has been supplemented by 1,000 additional police officers, while Mr. 
Pastrana's personal security force and several thousand Colombian soldiers 
and sailors have been patrolling offshore, overhead with helicopters and 
through the narrow, winding streets of this 16th-century Spanish city.

Although Cartagena was calm, numerous bombings were recorded overnight in 
Colombia's other major cities, with responsibility claimed by the two major 
leftist guerrilla groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and 
the National Liberation Army.

Both have denounced Mr. Clinton's visit and the aid program he has brought. 
Most of the aid comes in the form of military equipment and training to 
augment Colombian army and police force efforts to eradicate coca and poppy 
production in the south of the country.

The guerrillas, who derive much of their income from taxing drug 
traffickers whose fields and cocaine and heroin labs they protect, have 
accused the United States of interfering in their decades-long war against 
the government and of launching a military intervention they charge will 
lead to "Vietnamization" in Colombia.

Mr. Clinton and his delegation planned to spend eight hours on the ground. 
After arrival ceremonies at the Cartagena airport, the U.S. and Colombian 
delegations headed toward Cartagena's port, where a local business 
coalition has undergone a long and largely successful fight against contraband.

After a brief, walk through the central city, the U.S. delegation was 
scheduled to return home Wednesday night.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens