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DATE=3/30/2000 TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT TITLE=COLOMBIA / U-S AID NUMBER=5-46052 BYLINE=BILL RODGERS DATELINE=BOGOTA CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: The Colombian government is eagerly awaiting final approval of a U-S anti-narcotics aid package, but some Colombians are concerned over the military aspects of the program. As V-O-A's Bill Rodgers reports from Bogota, the concerns center on what some see as the danger of growing U-S military involvement in the Colombian conflict. TEXT: The proposed aid package is designed to help Colombia combat drug production and trafficking -- especially of cocaine. The South American nation is now the source of 90 percent of the cocaine consumed in the United States. Efforts by Colombian police to crack down on drugs has been hampered by the decades- long conflict between the government, leftist rebels and rightwing paramilitary groups. All the armed groups -- in one way or another -- collaborate with the drug trade, making it difficult for Colombian authorities to stamp it out. The one-point-seven billion dollar U-S package, part of which will be spent in combating drugs in neighboring countries, will provide direct military aid to Colombia in the form of helicopters, training and other assistance. It is this military assistance that is raising concerns among some Colombians. Responding to this, the U-S ambassador to Colombia, Curtis Kamman, says the package also includes other forms of assistance. /// 1st KAMMAN ACT /// Our part of the overall plan, although it is heavily counter-narcotics, is not the whole plan. The plan is to do as much as possible to improve the economy [and] strengthen democratic institutions. And a lot of the resources to do that will come either from other international donors or from Colombia's own resources. So I don't feel that we need to excuse ourselves for doing something that has a high anti-narcotics component. It's good for us, it's good for Colombia, but it's not the whole story. /// END ACT /// But for some Colombian analysts the military aid component is the whole story, or at least the most significant part. Political scientist Alvaro Camacho (who teaches at the National University's Institute for Political Studies in Bogota), fears the military assistance will lead to more bloodshed, and create hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing from military confrontations in zones where coca is grown. Mr. Camacho also warns of the dangers of growing U-S military involvement. /// CAMACHO ACT IN SPANISH-IN AND FADE UNDER /// He says, "While Colombia is not Vietnam, the same logic applies." It will always be, he says, that "one more step needs to be taken to accomplish the objective, and so the involvement will increase step by step. It's a very risky policy," he adds. U-S and Colombian officials discount this, but Ambassador Kamman does acknowledge there is likely to be fighting. /// 2ND KAMMAN ACT /// We're not kidding ourselves. If we are successful -- and here I'm speaking really of the Colombians -- if they go after the narco-traffickers, then the guerrillas will attempt to stop that effort. However, if we give the Colombians the tools, the training, [and] the equipment, I think they can succeed. And that is their strong hope, and that is their strong commitment, and that is why we are working so closely with the government of President Andres Pastrana. /// END ACT /// The principal target will be Colombia's largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC. The FARC, which has some 17-thousand fighters, controls a huge swath of Colombian territory, especially in southern Colombia, where a lot of the coca is grown. //OPT// FARC leaders admit to taxing peasant farmers who grow coca in return for protection, but they flatly deny any involvement in drug trafficking. They say they will work to help farmers grow alternative crops once a peace agreement is signed and funds are made available to invest in these programs. // END OPT // In a V-O-A interview, FARC spokesman Raul Reyes said the leftist rebels are not opposed to some aspects of the U-S aid package, which is part of a larger overall development program called "Plan Colombia." But Mr. Reyes strongly denounced the military aspects of the program. /// REYES ACT IN SPANISH-IN AND FADE UNDER /// He says, "We are opposed to all parts of the program which involve military assistance, military equipment, and military training." "Our worry," he says, "is that the counter-drug strategy is being used as a cover to disguise greater U-S involvement in Colombia's internal affairs, and will further aggravate the conflict." The U-S aid package comes as the FARC and President Pastrana's government are holding peace talks on a 12- point agenda to end the conflict. U-S officials say providing military assistance to Colombia's armed forces to combat drugs may be an incentive to the FARC to reach a peace agreement with the government. But even if this happens, they say, the war on drugs in Colombia will continue, as long as this South American nation continues to be a main supplier of narcotics to the United States. (Signed) NEB/WFR/WTW 30-Mar-2000 17:24 PM EDT (30-Mar-2000 2224 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .