Pubdate: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 Source: Reuters Copyright: 2001 Reuters Limited Author: Anthony Boadle COLOMBIA, U.S. LOOK AT ANDEAN DRUG PLAN WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Colombia held talks on Tuesday on their anti-drugs offensive in rebel-controlled southern Colombia, discussing the fears of neighboring countries about the impact on them. Secretary of State Colin Powell met Colombian Foreign Minister Guillermo Fernandez de Soto and told him the Bush administration was committed to backing Plan Colombia, which uses U.S.-equipped troops in a drive against drug crops. "It was a very positive, somewhat detailed, discussion of how Plan Colombia is working, how Plan Colombia is achieving some success and how we can go forward in the future," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. Boucher said Powell was particularly interested in "looking at what we do with neighboring countries, how we make it an Andean sort of strategy." Washington decided in 2000 to spend $1.3 billion over two years to back Plan Colombia, which calls for a military push against drug plantations protected by Marxist guerrillas. Colombia is the world's main cocaine producer and a source of much of the heroine sold on the streets of U.S. cities. Plan Colombia includes peace talks with the well-financed and heavily armed rebels, and alternative crop programs to draw peasants away from coca and poppy growing. The U.S. aid is mainly going into training Colombian army units and equipping them with Blackhawk helicopters for rapid deployment into areas rebels have held for decades. Colombia's neighbors fear armed clashes will send waves of refugees spilling across their borders, followed by the drug plantations, and they are seeking more U.S. funding. Powell and Fernandez did not talk about future funding, Boucher said. "The discussion centered on the desire of the United States to continue to support Plan Colombia," he said. Pastrana To Meet Bush Colombian President Andres Pastrana will meet President George W. Bush in Washington on Feb. 27 to discuss the crisis in Colombia, where peace talks with the main guerrilla movement resume on Wednesday after a three-month break. Fernandez said relations between Bogota and Washington were "excellent" and he thanked the Bush administration for continuing to support Plan Colombia. Powell was given an update on the peace process that was revived last week after Pastrana had talks with the commander of the 17,000 guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Manuel Marulanda. Fernandez reported progress in the destruction by aerial spraying of 30,000 hectares of coca in Putumayo province in only six weeks, amounting to half the plantations in the area. He said 10,000 peasant families had agreed to enter the government's voluntary eradication program. "These results effectively show that the plan is working," he said. "We discussed the regional dimension that the plan should have. We are going to work on that," Fernandez told reporters as he left the State Department. He gave no details. Fernandez asked the Bush administration for support in winning preferential trade treatment for exports from Andean nations entering the U.S. market. "I did not come to ask for more money. I came to ask for more cooperation and trade," he said. "The regional dimension is fundamental in this fight. Colombia cannot eradicate the drug problem on its own. Our countries need more trade and investment," he said. Fernandez also requested a temporary amnesty for thousands of Colombians illegally in the United States. Temporary Protected Status (TPS) would allow them to avoid deportation while they legalize their U.S. papers. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D