The New York Times

Tuesday, October 21, 1997

U.S. Drug Czar Sees Colombian Chief After, 2-Year Cold

Shoulder

BOGOTA, Colombia, Oct. 20 (AP) -, President Clinton's top drug adviser met

with President Ernesto Samper of Colombia today, breaking a two-year freeze

top-level United States contacts with Mr. Samper because of drug-related scandal

touching his Administration.

Barry McCaffrey, the drug policy director, met for more than a half hour with Mr.

Samper, who has been accused of accepting $6 million in drug cartel contribution

for his campaign in 1994.

Neither man commented after the meeting in the presidential palace.

Photographers recorded a handshake between Mr. McCaffrey and Mr. Samper,

their expressions serious, before being ushered out.

Mr. Samper was cleared by a highly partisan congress last year of charges he

solicited the $6 million in Cali cartel campaign contributions. He denies he knew

of the drug money, but American officials doubt his version.

The State Department canceled Mr.Samper's tourist visa last year. Its steady

pressure on his Government has been credited with enactment of new laws

mandating stiffer jail terms for drug bosses and the forfeiture of their drug profits.

Colombia is the No.1 cocaine exporter and a growing source of heroin.

The Colombian Ambassador to the United States, Juan Carlos Esguerra, said

today that the meeting between the two men had been "frank, open and cordial."

He said Mr. Samper thanked the United States for its aid in the war on drugs.

In February, just before the United States decertified Colombia for a second

straight year as an ally in the war on drugs, Mr. McCaffrey recommended

continued political isolation of Mr. Samper.

But Colombia's Government has been weakened by scandal, and a threat from

leftist rebels and other armed outlaws is growing. The meeting apparently

reflected Washington's concern that longstanding democracy in Colombia may be

in danger.

In Washington, the State Department spokesman, James Rubin, said the meeting

did not signify "a warming trend," adding that "there's a tendency to often

exaggerate the diplomatic significance of meetings."

One issue on which the United States and Colombia have been at odds has been a

Colombian law preventing extradition of drug figures to the United States.

Washington was angered by the Colombian Senate's passage last month of an

extradition measure that was not retroactive, meaning that Cali cartel leaders now

in Colombian jails could not be tried in the United States, where they would face

life imprisonment.

Another vote in the lower house in coming weeks could restore retroactivity, and

Mr. Samper has said he will support the measure.

In addition to consulting with political and military leaders, Mr. McCaffrey

attended a lunch for business leaders and met with human rights representatives.

In a speech today, he praised Colombian police for risking their lives to combat

drugs. Two officers were killed by rebel fire Sunday during a raid on a jungle

cocaine-processing complex 125 miles south of the capital.

The deaths on Sunday brought to 44 the number of Colombian police officers

killed in anti-narcotics operations over the past three and a half years. Eight

aircraft have also been shot down, and the Colombian anti-drug Police are hoping

to get $50 million in American aid, including four Blackhawk armored helicopters.

The aid is being considered by a House-Senate conference on Capitol Hill this

week.