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DATE=8/30/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=CLINTON-COLOMBIA WRAP (L) NUMBER=2-266005 BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST DATELINE=CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: President Clinton has paid a brief visit to Colombia to underline U-S support for Colombian President Andres Pastrana and his government's battle against drug trafficking, a chronic insurgency and a deep recession. The visit, amid heavy security, was the first by a U-S President to the South American country in a decade. VOA's David Gollust reports from the Colombian port city of Cartagena. TEXT: The Clinton visit was meant as a visible show of support for Mr. Pastana and his "Plan Colombia" recovery program to which the United States has committed one-point-three billion dollars in new funds. The bulk of the U-S aid will go to train and equip anti-drug units of the Colombia security forces and there is widespread concern the United States will be drawn into the Colombian government's long-running war against insurgents. But at a joint news conference with President Pastrana, Mr. Clinton said the insurgency can be settled peacefully even as war against the drug trade goes on: ///Clinton actuality/// I reject the idea that we must choose between supporting peace and fighting drugs. We can do both and indeed to succeed, we must do both. I reaffirmed to the President our support for the peace process. The people of Colombia have suffered long enough, especially in the area of human rights. ///end act/// Mr. Clinton said the U-S role is neither a Vietnam scenario nor a case of, quote, "Yankee imperialism" and said a condition of the aid program is that the United States will not be drawn into a shooting war in Colombia. Mr. Pastrana for his part, said he will accept no foreign intervention in Colombia's civil conflict. And heard here through an interpreter, he said over the long run, wider access to the U-S market for his country's textiles and other legitimate exports will be more important than counter-drug assistance: /// Pastrana act-translator /// I believe the time has come to move toward an agreement that allows better access for Colombian products into the U-S market. I'm convinced that at the end of the day trade and investment will do more for Colombia and will be more decisive instruments in the battle against drugs, given that they will have a sustainable impact for future generations, and will contribute to a more prosperous Colombia. ///end act/// Mr. Clinton was joined in his visit here by a bipartisan Congressional delegation led by the Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. He assured Mr. Pastrana of continuity in U-S policy regardless of who wins the U-S Presidential election in November, and said the United States must act to curb the demand for illegal drugs that has helped produce Colombia's suffering: ///Hastert actuality/// We have to work in our country to make sure that we can reduce the demand for drugs, that we can work with your countrymen to make sure that you have the resources to fight the battle against drug traffickers here in Colombia. And there are those in this country, and there are those in the United States, that would be very happy to see us fail. But for the sake of our children, and our grand-children, we can't afford to let this fail. ///end act/// President Clinton, who earlier had an emotional meeting with mothers and widows of Colombian policemen killed in internal strife, appealed to Colombia's neighbors to support Mr. Pastrana's program. He said their concerns about a spillover of Colombian violence may be at least partly valid, but said U-S aid is also available to help them cope with the problem. There was extraordinary security for the brief Clinton visit, the first to Colombia since former President Bush also stopped in Cartagena ten years ago. Local police said they arrested three men with bomb-making materials and there were other security-related incidents but no immediate threat to the U-S delegation. (Signed) NEB/DAG/PT 30-Aug-2000 18:28 PM EDT (30-Aug-2000 2228 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .