Pubdate: Mon, 10 Sep 2001
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2001 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  http://www.sjmercury.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Author: Alan Sipress

U.S. LOOKS TO EXPAND DRUG FIGHT IN COLOMBIA

Powell To Discuss Policy With Pastrana As Bush Considers More Military Training

WASHINGTON -- As Secretary of State Colin Powell leaves today for 
South America, U.S. officials are considering how to expand their 
training of Colombian security forces with the battle against cocaine 
cultivation and trafficking spreading from southern Colombia to other 
parts of the country, administration officials said.

Among the options under consideration is training of a new Colombian 
anti-narcotics battalion beyond the three that already have received 
instruction under a year-old, $1.3 billion U.S. aid package, a senior 
administration official said.

Another alternative would be training an existing military battalion 
in fighting drug trafficking, but the official said support for this 
option could be tempered by U.S. concerns about the human rights 
record of regular Colombian army troops.

Administration officials stressed that the training would be in 
support only of the ``existing mission'' of combating the drug trade, 
and not designed to bolster the Colombian government's long-running 
war against leftist rebels.

A final call about whether to step up U.S. military training would 
likely be made over the next four to six months, with the intention 
of winning congressional approval for the funding for the 2003 fiscal 
year. ``We have certainly been talking to the government of Colombia 
about it, but no decision has been made,'' a senior State Department 
official said.

Powell's trip to Colombia will follow an overnight visit to Peru for 
a meeting of the Organization of American States. His trip comes as 
the Bush administration has been reviewing U.S. policy toward 
Colombia, where President Andres Pastrana's peace effort is flagging 
in the face of a well-funded insurgency.

In his talks with Pastrana, Powell will make clear the Bush 
administration remains committed to the policy initiated last year by 
former President Clinton, U.S. officials said. The $1.3 billion U.S. 
aid package formed part of Pastrana's Plan Colombia, which combines 
an anti-narcotics campaign with development projects.

U.S. officials said that in Colombia and Peru, Powell will signal the 
administration's intention to resume anti-drug air patrols, which 
were suspended in April after an American missionary plane was 
mistakenly identified by a CIA surveillance plane as a narcotics 
flight and shot down by a Peruvian jet. Peruvian and Colombian 
leaders have been pressing for the patrols to resume.

But the conditions for restarting the air interdiction program have 
yet to be set and no official announcement is expected during 
Powell's visit, officials said.
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