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DATE=10/8/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=COLOMBIA DRUGS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-254824
BYLINE=JON TKACH
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: High ranking Colombian defense officials are 
wrapping up a visit to Washington, urging U-S leaders 
to increase aid to help the South American country 
fight drug trafficking.  Lawmakers are considering 
pledging up to one-and-a-half-billion dollars over the 
next three years. Colombian officials say they need 
the help as soon as possible because the production of 
coca - the plant from which cocaine is made - is on 
the rise in rebel territories.  V-O-A's Jon Tkach 
(kotch) reports.
TEXT: Colombia's defense minister, Luis Fernando 
Ramirez, says his country now faces a different kind 
of drug war. 
Colombian drug traders, he says, are keeping a lower 
profile - operating out of the jungle in areas often 
controlled by rebel forces.  Minister Ramirez says 
Colombia needs, and deserves, extensive international 
help.  He wants three-and-a-half-billion dollars in 
aid - and more than a third of that from the United 
States.
U-S lawmakers have been debating what the United 
States' role should be.  Reports from the State 
Department and independent organizations have cited 
extensive human rights abuses by Colombia's army.  
Also, many lawmakers worry that U-S aid could go to 
fighting the government's war against insurgents.
Mr. Ramirez says his country's forces have improved 
significantly in the area of human rights.  But, he 
says, leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary 
groups often get in the way of the war on drugs. 
            /// RAMIREZ ACT ///
      Our goal is to fight narco-traffickers and we 
      will need to fight others with different names 
      if they are in the middle of this business of 
      narco-trafficking.
            /// END ACT ///
Adam Isacson of the Washington-based Center for 
International Policy says his group is opposed to 
current plans for assistance.
He says Colombia's security forces have yet to truly 
reform and that Washington's response is overly 
focused on beefing up Columbia militarily.
            /// ISACSON ACT ///
      And there is a peace process and the guerrillas 
      have gone on record saying they want peace and 
      this new infusion of aid may kill that.
            /// END ACT ///
The Colombian delegation is searching for help with a 
seven-and-a-half billion dollar, three year plan they 
say will combat the drug trade and move along the 
country's flagging peace process.
NEB/JON/JP
08-Oct-1999 15:59 PM EDT (08-Oct-1999 1959 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.