U.S. to Consider More Aid for Colombia Battle : Bogota Official Asks $19 Million for Equipment to Protect Judges From Attack by Drug Barons

Responding to an urgent appeal from Colombia’s embattled justice minister, Bush Administration officials agreed Tuesday to consider increasing U.S. aid for that South American country’s escalating war on the drug cartels, only days after a $65-million package of military assistance was offered.

Administration officials held new talks as Justice Minister Monica de Greiff, seemingly unruffled by the drug barons’ threats to kill her and her 3-year-old son, asked for an additional $19 million to provide metal detectors, armored cars and other security equipment to protect judges from terrorist attacks.

“The law is under siege in Colombia, and we must protect it every way we can,” De Greiff told a crowded news conference, shielded by extraordinary security, in which she broke her public silence during a visit to Washington.

Bush, vacationing in Maine, said his Administration wants to “cooperate with Colombia to the best of our ability.” He said details of U.S. aid to Colombia are “being worked out.”

De Greiff, responding to persistent rumors that she is afraid to go back to Colombia and would seek refuge in the United States, said she has no intention of resigning and will return to Bogota next week after completing her talks with Justice and State Department officials.

“I am determined that the integrity of our justice system survive this crisis, and I hope to play my full part in ensuring this,” the 32-year-old Cabinet member said. “As a country and as individuals, we are under enormous pressure. Yet we have a job to do, and much rests on our success.

“I never considered resigning,” she added. “The threats are there . . . but I am satisfied with my protection right now.”

Drug Enforcement Administration chief John C. Lawn turned over his bulletproof limousine to De Greiff for her use while in the United States, a Justice Department source said. She is also being protected by a special team of deputy U.S. marshals.

According to Justice Department officials, De Greiff, who seemed relaxed and confident in her televised news conference Tuesday, was far more nervous during private meetings Monday.

De Greiff said she would return to Bogota next Wednesday, making her stay extraordinarily long for an official visit. Her travel schedule means that she will be protected by U.S. security until after Bush makes his long-awaited drug policy speech Tuesday.

Asked why the visit was so long, De Greiff said: “I presented a program today. (U.S. officials) have to study it. . . . I don’t think one week is too much time. I think things are going very well right now.”

Additional $19 Million

De Greiff said the $19 million she had requested to protect judges and other Colombian officials was in addition to the $65 million that Bush promised Friday and to the $5 million that Congress appropriated last year.

U.S. and Colombian officials are still discussing the elements of the $65-million military aid package, but the first deliveries should begin this week, according to Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams.

Williams said the equipment to be sent to Colombia includes aircraft, various types of weapons and ammunition, protective equipment, maintenance and ground-transport equipment, medical supplies, communications gear, spare parts and support equipment.

“Officials of both governments are now analyzing those lists to determine what is available, what is suitable, how much it will cost and any impact on U.S. (military) readiness by providing equipment,” he told a Pentagon briefing.

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, in a television interview early Tuesday, ruled out any combat role for U.S. troops who will accompany the equipment to Colombia.

“The Colombians have not requested any American personnel for any combat mission,” Cheney said. “We aren’t sending any American personnel for any kind of a combat mission. These are people that will provide technical assistance and training, and that’s all.”

De Greiff also ruled out any request for U.S. troops. “We have our own armed forces,” she said, “and they are doing their job.”

She also said Colombia is not interested in a negotiated peace with the murderous Medellin cartel. The father of three leaders of the cartel suggested talks Tuesday.

“They have been asking for negotiations for a long time now,” De Greiff said. “President (Virgilio) Barco (Vargas) has said that this is not a moment for negotiations, that things have to be done the way the law says right now. So I don’t think there are going to be any.”

Meanwhile, Bush met with members of his Cabinet and other top advisers to review final plans for his drug policy speech.

Although the address is likely to concentrate on domestic anti-drug programs, the fighting in Colombia has caused Bush and his advisers to increase the international component of the package, National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft told reporters at a news conference in Kennebunkport.

U.S. officials have been hoping for years that Colombia would get tough with its drug merchants, who are estimated to control about 80% of the cocaine traffic to the United States. But the sudden nature of the crackdown appears to have taken the Administration by surprise, requiring officials to do some last-minute scrambling to adjust Bush’s anti-drug strategy to the new realities.

“We had the strategy in place, then this Colombian thing comes up,” Scowcroft said. Administration officials have been working to determine “how what we’re doing now for Colombia fits into what we had planned to do,” he added.

As part of his anti-drug package, Bush had planned to propose about $300 million in additional aid to drug-producing countries, particularly Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. But, Scowcroft said, that figure has already been increased by the amount pledged last week to Colombia, and the amount is likely to grow further as U.S.-Colombian negotiations continue.

Also Tuesday, the Justice Department persuaded a Senate committee to cancel a scheduled public hearing on the situation in Colombia because of concern that it might touch on sensitive matters that could endanger lives or damage the government’s campaign against the cartel.

The Senate Judiciary Committee was to have heard testimony today from Administration officials and academic experts.

Interested in Success

“The concern was that once you started getting into questions at a public hearing, sensitive matters might be raised that could have an impact in Colombia,” Justice Department spokesman David Runkel said. “I think it’s in everybody’s interest to see the current effort in Colombia to arrest people who are involved in the drug trade succeed.”

Meanwhile, Justice Department officials scaled back their estimates of when Eduardo Martinez Romero, an alleged money launderer for the Medellin cartel, would be turned over to U.S. authorities to face trial in Atlanta.

Over the weekend, Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh had said he expected that Martinez would be extradited this week. But on Tuesday, Runkel said, “We hope it will be in the next week or two, but we just can’t say for sure.”

Extradition proceedings under Barco’s emergency decree are complicated, Runkel said, and “there may be a desire to have Colombia’s Supreme Court rule” on the legality of the procedure before anyone is handed over.

Times staff writers Ronald J. Ostrow, John M. Broder and Douglas Jehl, in Washington, contributed to this story.

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