Source: New York Times (NY) Pubdate: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ Author: Editorial Page Editors ECHOES OF EL SALVADOR IN COLOMBIA Washington's growing involvement in a brutal Latin American guerrilla war echoes the opening stages of American intervention in the conflict in El Salvador in the 1980's. Diana Jean Schemo and Tim Golden reported in The Times earlier this month that much of the aid the Pentagon is giving Colombia's military to fight cocaine is being used instead to fight guerrillas. American special-forces trainers now work in Colombia, teaching the military such skills as jungle maneuvering and psychological operations. While the level of support is far below American aid to the Salvadoran military in the 1980's, the Administration is unwisely considering an increase. As in El Salvador, American aid is going to an abusive and inept army fighting vicious Marxist guerrillas. The guerrillas kill politicians and kidnap Americans. The military has strong ties to paramilitary death squads, which massacre peasants and murder human rights workers and left-wing politicians. Last year, 10 people a day died in political murders. Seventy percent of the killings were attributed to soldiers or paramilitaries. Support for the army also undermines Colombia's precarious civilian institutions. The military is defying a Constitutional Court ruling to reform its justice system. Generals have openly refused to obey presidential orders relating to peace. Advocates of increased military aid and training, who mainly work in the Pentagon, contend that Colombia's soldiers need light infantry training and equipment and other skills that can be used against any foe. They and the White Hose drug office call the insurgents "narco-guerrillas" and argue that the battles against drugs and against guerrillas cannot be separated. But training will take years to make a difference, and Colombia's military has often rejected useful advice in the past. The narco-guerrilla connection is disputed by many in the Colombian Government and the American State Department, who call it a label invented by the Colombian military to allow it to use the aid to fight guerrillas. Myles Frechette, the American Ambassador to Colombia until the end of 1997, publicly criticized the term, and American intelligence services in 1996 concluded that the term was far overblown. Ironically, there may be strong ties between the paramilitaries and the traffickers. Colombia's investigative police say Carlos CastaF1o, a top paramilitary leader, heads a drug cartel. As in El Salvador, peace talks are the only solution to a civil war neither side can win. Colombians overwhelmingly endorsed talks in a referendum last year. Now, President-elect AndrE9s Pastrana is promising to meet soon with guerrillas, who are also showing new interest in peace. Washington can best support the talks by terminating its aid to a military that has undermined them. - --- Checked-by: (trikydik)