Pubdate: Sun, 10 Dec 2000 Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL) Copyright: 2000 St. Petersburg Times Contact: http://www.sptimes.com/ Forum: http://www.sptimes.com/Forums/ubb/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi COLOMBIA LAUNCHES ANTI-COCA BATTALION The Force, The Second Of Three, Was Trained With Help From U.S. Instructors As Part Of A $1.3-Billion U.S. Aid Package LARANDIA ARMY BASE, Colombia - A cannon blast marked the start of the ceremony Friday at the sprawling military base deep in the jungles of southern Colombia. As 14 helicopters buzzed overhead, soldiers in camouflage face paint and black berets marched through a cloud of yellow, blue and red smoke - the colors of the, Colombian flag - toward the generals at the reviewing stand. A Catholic priest in a white cassock then trudged across the waterlogged field toward the formation, uttered a prayer and sprinkled holy water. With that, Colombia graduated the second of three army battalions to'be trained in counternarcotics warfare by U.S. Army Special Forces instructors. The training, and hundreds of millions of dollars in American aid for troop helicopters and other military hardware, form the centerpiece of President Andres Pastrana's ambitious plan to root out the coca cultivation that has fueled Colombia's civil conflict. "A great responsibility rests on your shoulders," Colombian Defense Minister Luis Fernando Ramirez told the graduating soldiers as high- ranking American and Colombian military officials listened. "The hour has arrived, as we've predicted, for this brigade to become the principal headache for a small group of Colombians who have declared war on 40-million Colombians. " The battalion of more than 600 soldiers received training under a $1.3- billion U.S. aid package designed to stem drug production in Colombia and, in the process, cut leftist rebels off from their main source of financing. When a third battalion completes training in April, Colombia will have a 3,000- man anti-narcotics brigade to use in Colombia's coca heartland, the southern jungle provinces of Putumayo and Caqueta. For the soldiers who form Battalion No. 2, the graduation was a proud day. It was a much-anticipated finale after four rigorous months of all-purpose military and anti-narcotics training, in addition to instructions on how to avoid entanglements involving non-combatants. Sgt. Mauricio Garcia, an 11-year veteran who marveled at how much better a soldier he has become with American instruction, said he was eager to swing into action against coca laboratories and drug traffickers. 'We want to finish off the coca and hit them hard," Garcia said. But both the soldiers and high-ranking Colombian and American officials were under no illusions. The soldiers of the counternarcotics brigade are expected to meet stiff resistance in the field, either from drug traffickers or rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The rebel group, with an estimated 17,000 fighters nationwide, is accused of making millions of dollars by taxing traffickers and running the coca-processing tabs scattered throughout the jungle. "When you start operations there will be battles," said Gen. Peter Pace, commander of American forces in Latin America an a guest at the graduation ceremonies. "From a peace standpoint this is not good, but from a long-term perspective, you've got to do what the government of Colombia is trying to do." Meanwhile, FARC on Saturday refused to resume peace spite the government's move this week to appease the group by extending the time it can stay in its stronghold. The rebels said a freeze in peace talks it declared last month would remain in effect until the government produces a plan to curb violence by rival rightist paramilitaries. "We hope the government will tell all Colombians and the international community what its strategy is to fight the paramilitaries," FARC spokesman Raul Reyes said. Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry F