Clinton to travel to Colombia

Clinton

EDGARTOWN, Massachusetts (Reuters) -- One month after promising $1.3 billion to help Colombia in its war on drugs, President Bill Clinton announced on Friday he will travel there to lend his support to Bogota's efforts to crack down on drug production.

"I am pleased to announce I will travel on Aug. 30 to Colombia to meet with President Andres Pastrana and to personally underscore America's support for Colombia's efforts to seek peace, fight illicit drugs, build its economy and deepen democracy," Clinton said in a statement.

	MESSAGE BOARD
Colombia

He said House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, and Sen. Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat, will join him.

"Colombia's success is profoundly in the interest of the United States," Clinton said. "A peaceful, democratic and economically prosperous Colombia will help to promote democracy and stability throughout the hemisphere."

Clinton said he had signed a presidential decision directive ordering an intensified effort to aid the Colombian government in implementing "Plan Colombia" -- Pastrana's plan to try to build a better future for his country.

"The Presidential Decision Directive complements and supports the $1.3 billion assistance package that I requested from Congress, and that Democrats and Republicans passed in a bipartisan spirit last month," Clinton said.

He said the directive will help intensify the U.S. efforts to help the Colombian government implement its "comprehensive national strategy."

"It is the right way to advance America's interests in the region, and I am proud of the bipartisan effort that has made it possible."

In July Clinton signed a spending law that provided $1.3 billion for the war on drugs in Colombia, raising U.S. military aid and involvement in the violence-wracked South American nation.

The aid included 60 helicopters to deploy U.S.-trained army battalions in an offensive against drug traffickers and rebels protecting drug plantations in southern Colombia, the source of most of the cocaine sold on U.S. streets.

The U.S. aid will back Pastrana's broad strategy to crack down on drug production, provide peasants with alternative crops, negotiate peace with leftist guerrillas and stimulate economic growth.

Congress put a limit of 500 U.S. troops and 300 civilian contractors that can be in Colombia at any time. But the law allowed the president to waive that cap for 90 days in the event of an "imminent involvement" of U.S. forces in hostilities.

The Clinton administration is in the midst of consulting with human rights groups to decide whether Colombia's rights record meets the conditions for $1.3 billion in U.S. aid.

The administration is in a hurry to start disbursing the money, on the grounds that any delay could complicate Bogota's efforts to crack down on drug trafficking.

The U.S. aid includes money for human rights protection and strengthening law and order in a country where rebels control 40 percent of rural areas.

But the bulk of the aid will go to pay for 18 Black Hawk and 42 Huey helicopters to ferry troops into drug-producing regions, military training, intelligence activities, as well as crop eradication and anti-drug flights in other countries.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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