Pubdate: Thu,  5 Dec 2002
Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
Contact:  2002 Detroit Free Press
Website: http://www.freep.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/125
Author: Jonathan Wright, Reuters
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/colombia.htm

COLOMBIA IN LINE FOR MORE U.S. AID 

Powell To Seek It, Sees Progress In Drug War 

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Pleased by signs Colombia is making progress spraying
cocaine crops, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will recommend the
United States grant more aid to the war-torn country, a U.S. official said
Wednesday. 

Speaking to reporters after Powell met Colombian President Alvaro Uribe in
Bogota, U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson said Powell would recommend that the
Bush administration give more aid to Colombia in the next financial year,
which starts in October. 

"He told them he would ask for more," she said. 

The United States has in the past few years plowed almost $2 billion in
mainly military aid into Bogota's Plan Colombia offensive against cocaine
production, spraying crops grown by peasant growers and trying to stem the
flow of drug cash to illegal armed groups fighting a 38-year-old war. 

But Washington has been pleased since Uribe, a tough conservative, took
office in August and speeded crop spraying. Uribe, who is boosting defense
spending, has been criticized by human-rights groups for measures to crack
down on Marxist rebels and far-right outlaws, but his popularity has soared. 

After meeting Uribe in his presidential palace, Powell visited a Colombian
police drug operations base in Bogota. 

"I am very impressed by what I have seen, and I go back reinforced in my
commitment to do all we can for Colombia," Powell told reporters. 

Colombia is by far the world's biggest cocaine producer, and the United
States is the largest consumer. 

The Bush administration has asked Congress for more than $430 million for
Colombia's war and antidrug effort in 2003, as well as $98 million to help
protect an oil pipeline. Colombia is the third-largest recipient of U.S. aid
after Israel and Egypt. 

In his first trip to South America since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Powell
chose to support a leader who has become one of the United States' firmest
friends in the region, as left-wingers have won power in Brazil and
Venezuela. 

Colombia now holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council. But
even though the Iraq crisis could lead to sudden war, Powell did not expect
to spend much time speaking with his ally Uribe about the issue. 

U.S. officials say Colombia cannot expect Washington to solve all its
problems. But Bogota argues it sacrifices money and lives to tackle its
problems and needs more progress in trade talks and military intelligence
help. 

Uribe, a yoga-practicing lawyer whose stern demeanor sets him apart from his
more flamboyant Latin American presidential peers, has already obtained
vital U.S. support, including backing for a $9.8-billion multilateral loan
package. 

But Colombia wants progress on a bilateral trade agreement with the United
States and also wants Washington to help coffee-producing nations to bolster
depressed prices for the bean. 

The United States recently authorized Colombia to use its aid against
guerrillas, not just the on the drug trade, saying it saw the country's
decades-old conflict as part of its "war on terrorism." 

But Colombia's war has no relation to the Middle Eastern threats
preoccupying Washington and has slipped down the list of Bush administration
priorities since Sept. 11. 

Powell has been cautious about how the United States will respond to the
cease-fire declared by the main far-right outlaw force in Colombia's
conflict, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, known as AUC.
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