Colombian Aid Limits Reviewed

Pastrana, Bush Ask a Skeptical Congress to Lift Restrictions

By Karen DeYoung-Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, April 16, 2002; Page A16

Another difficult and controversial foreign policy issue is about to crowd onto President Bush's already overflowing plate, as Congress takes up his plan for a major expansion of U.S. involvement in Colombia's guerrilla war.

Hearings scheduled to stretch into next month began last week on the proposal to stop restricting U.S. military aid to Colombia's fight against cocaine and heroin production and export.

The restrictions were designed to keep the United States from becoming directly involved in South America's oldest guerrilla conflict. But the Bush administration maintains that left- and right-wing insurgents fighting the Colombian government and each other are both drug traffickers and terrorists whose activities threaten not only Colombia but the stability and security of Latin America and the United States.

Colombian President Andres Pastrana arrives in Washington today for a four-day visit to help lobby for the plan, which would also waive a number of human rights provisions and other restrictions Congress has attached to Colombia aid.

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