Colombian president-elect in D.C. to solicit support

Uribe arrives for talks with Colin Powell on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Colombian President-elect Alvaro Uribe held talks with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday in the latest round of talks aimed at drumming up support for his war against guerrillas and the drug trade.

The meeting comes a few weeks after Powell warned that there is growing dissatisfaction among the people of Latin American that democracy has not brought increased prosperity.

"There is a broader, deeper discontent in the region," Powell told top business leaders at a conference of the Council of the Americas, which lobbies on issues affecting business in the Americas, last month .

In Colombia, drugs and kidnappings fund a 38-year civil war pitting Marxist rebels against right-wing paramilitary fighters and government troops. The conflict kills thousands of Colombians every year.

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In addition to outlining his plans for the war against drugs and insurgents, Uribe is expected to lay out his plans to revive Colombia's stricken economy.

Just weeks after his landslide election victory on a law-and-order platform, Uribe is in Washington seeking U.S. support and money for his country.

Uribe, who will be inaugurated August 7, held meetings with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Horst Koehler on Tuesday.

Uribe also met World Bank President James Wolfensohn. In a statement issued after the meeting, Wolfensohn said he was looking forward to "a productive relationship" with Uribe and his financial team.

Pentagon spokesman Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis said Uribe and Rumsfeld "discussed military-to-military cooperation and ways that the United States can continue to help as part of its security assistance program for Colombia."

"Secretary Rumsfeld ... stressed that the president-elect's commitment to continued democratic rule was even more important than the war against drugs," Davis said.

U.S. backs Colombia with $1.7 billion in aid

In the last two years, the United States has provided $1.7 billion, mostly in military aid, to Colombia to stem the tide of cocaine and heroin, much of which ends up on U.S. streets.

The Bush administration has already signaled its support for Uribe, asking Congress for a further $133 million to train Colombian soldiers to protect an oil pipeline, which has been the frequent target of rebel attack, and a further $439 million in longer-term aid.

Outgoing President Andres Pastrana was unable to convince the electorate of the value of either his drawn-out peace negotiations with the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, and National Liberation Army, or ELN, or the outright military assault on the FARC he launched in February.

FARC and the smaller ELN are routinely implicated in drug trafficking, kidnappings and anti-government guerrilla violence.

Pastrana ended nearly four years of peace talks with FARC after a senator was kidnapped, and finally moved his forces into the FARC "safe-haven."

Fans and skeptics on the Hill

On the Hill, Uribe will find much support. U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, has been a strong advocate of aid to Colombia, as have many conservative Republicans in the House and Senate.

But Senate Democrats, led by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Delaware, and Senate Judicial Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, have placed tight restrictions on U.S. aid, limiting it to training and advising Colombian forces.

Congress also requires tough monitoring of right-wing paramilitary forces, which human rights groups have accused of waging widespread violence against civilians. These are groups that critics have claimed share ties with Uribe.

Uribe also has a meeting scheduled with Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser.

On Monday, he met U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and asked that the United Nations send an envoy to the FARC to attempt to restart peace talks.

Annan's spokesman said last month that the United Nations would examine Uribe's proposals for a U.N. role.

U.N. special envoy James LeMoyne had a role in the failed peace negotiations. But some diplomats said the United Nations may be somewhat reluctant to involve itself in the situation.

Uribe has said he is ready to talk with the guerrillas if they first declare a cease-fire and an end to hostilities.

Rebel officials have said they would only reopen negotiations if they are again granted a "safe haven." Pastrana ceded a Switzerland-sized territory to the FARC before beginning talks in 1999.