Colombia seeks more US aid

Ariel spraying of drug crops is the latest tactic

By Jeremy McDermott in Colombia

Colombia's President Andres Pastrana has arrived in the US for a meeting with President George W Bush on Tuesday.

Colombian Government sources say Mr Pastrana is going to ask President Bush for more help.

But the US president may not want to get drawn any further into the Colombian quagmire.

US aid to Colombia has become increasingly controversial as its effects have become apparent.

Mr Pastrana says he is not seeking military hardware

President Clinton gave $1.3bn of mainly military aid to President Pastrana last year.

While all of the aid has not yet been delivered, some of it has already been unleashed on the southern province of Putumayo in an aerial crop eradication programme.

According to the Colombian military this has destroyed some 30,000 hectares of drug crops, but according to farmers on the ground it has also destroyed a good percentage of legal crops.

Fleeing into Ecuador

What is certain is that US aid has fuelled the 37-year civil conflict.

Seven thousand people have already fled their homes in Putumayo, most crossing into Ecuador, threatened by hunger after their fields were destroyed as guerrillas, paramilitaries and US-backed security forces slugged it out.

Mr Clinton had to use his presidential waiver last year to side-step human rights conditions normally attached to US aid.

The human rights situation in Colombia has worsened since then - there is almost a massacre a day, with kidnappings at a record high, along with internal displacement.

Trade concessions

Mr Pastrana has insisted that he is not looking for any more military hardware from the US, just some trade concessions to get Colombia's battered economy on track and funds for social investment.

President Bush has already made it clear that more military intervention in Colombia is not an option.

And with more pressing foreign policy concerns, he might let matters on Colombia stay as they are and step away from further involvement.

At least then he can blame it on Mr Clinton, should the situation get any worse.