Bush Plans New Aid to Colombia : U.S. Hopes to Counter Pressure on Bogota to End Anti-Drug War

President Bush plans to offer new assistance to Colombian President Virgilio Barco Vargas, including possible support for financially depressed coffee growers, to counter mounting pressure on Bogota to call off its war on the drug cartels, sources said Wednesday.

Bush will discuss the additional U.S. help at the White House today in what will be his first face-to-face meeting with Barco since the Colombian leader, backed by $65 million in emergency U.S. military assistance, declared war on drug traffickers last month.

Since that time, the Barco government has been unable to contain a wave of terrorist attacks launched by the powerful cocaine cartels, and influential Colombians have begun urging the government to negotiate with the drug kingpins.

‘Moral Support’

“The specific signal is (that) you want to show support for him and put an arm around the guy and say, ‘We’re with you,’ ” a White House official said. He called the scheduled session a “meeting of moral support.”

Administration officials said the specific contents of the assistance package have not yet been determined. “We want to find out what we can do that would be most helpful to him,” one official said.

Maintaining the momentum of the Colombian crackdown is of crucial importance to the Administration’s new anti-drug strategy, which places increased emphasis on U.S.-backed efforts to disrupt the supply of drugs at their source in the Andean nations of South America.

Any sign of capitulation by the Colombian government could weaken congressional support for the rest of the Administration’s Andean initiative, which calls for $2 billion in military and economic assistance to Peru, Bolivia and Colombia over the next five years.

“This is a real make-or-break time,” said Robert J. Kurz, a scholar at the Brookings Institution. “Either you redouble your efforts and get stronger, or you begin to drift back to the normal kind of bickering.”

“Undoubtedly,” an Administration official said, “we’re coming to an important juncture.”

The pressures on Barco to back away from the anti-drug crackdown have resulted, in large part, from the relentless bombings that are part of the cartels’ “total war” on the government.

The cumulative effect of more than 100 attacks so far appears to have persuaded important sectors of Colombia’s population that the struggle against the powerful traffickers is not worth the risk it entails.

Extradition Decision Due

At the same time, the Colombian Supreme Court is nearing a long-awaited decision on the constitutionality of a major weapon in the crackdown: a provision that permits extradition of some traffickers for trial in the United States.

With most observers expecting the court to undermine the government’s power, some fear that the days of the anti-drug offensive already are numbered.

“A crackdown is an episodic application of force,” said Renssalaer Lee, an adjunct professor at American University who is an expert on Colombia. “I don’t think that the Colombian government can maintain the current crackdown with the current level of intensity.”

Among the plans being considered by the White House to help bolster the beleaguered government are a pledge to take the lead in repairing an international coffee agreement. Collapse of the pact last month produced a free fall in coffee prices that could cost Colombia up to $400 million in foreign-exchange income.

Coffee Price Accord

A senior U.S. official emphasized that the international nature of the accord means that the United States cannot by itself resurrect the price agreement. But he said he expects the White House to offer to convene new negotiations aimed at boosting prices paid to Colombian growers.

Other possible offers could include U.S. promises to lower barriers to key Colombian imports, including cut flowers, and to accelerate the deployment of a fleet of armored cars already promised for the protection of Colombian judges, officials said.

At the same time, the President indicated that he expects to honor an earlier request from Barco that the United States sponsor a “high-level drug meeting with the presidents of various countries.”

“I’ll be very interested in his view on it and . . . how that could help on this fight,” Bush said in an interview with a small group of reporters in the Oval Office. The President said he believes such a meeting would be “a constructive thing.”

Such gestures could help assuage Colombian concerns that the United States has given too high a priority to military solutions to that country’s drug problems.

Officials in Bogota have complained that the $65 million in U.S. assistance provided so far has been largely ill-suited to the anti-drug effort. Instead, they have urged economic assistance to prop up impoverished sectors of their country’s legal economy.

Before departing for Washington, Barco made clear through the Colombian Embassy in Washington that he plans to ask the United States for help in restoring the system of coffee quotas. The Colombian press also reported that Barco will seek tariff reductions as part of a bid for more “international backing” for his anti-drug effort.

Despite the pressures against him, Barco has stood firm in his determination to persist in the anti-drug offensive and has refused to consider negotiations with the drug lords. And White House officials insisted there are no indications that Barco’s resolve is crumbling.

In a surprise address Tuesday evening, broadcast nationwide on television and radio, Barco warned Colombians that the traffickers want to “destroy the most precious thing Colombians have--their democracy.”

At the same time, he announced the conclusion of a peace accord with the April 19 movement, also known as M-19, a 2,000-member guerrilla organization that has been battling government forces for more than a decade.

The government continues to negotiate with five other guerrilla forces. Its willingness to strike deals with such adversaries, but not with the cocaine cartels, is seen as evidence of Barco’s determination to concentrate government resources on the anti-drug effort.

As part of its effort to shore up Barco, the White House might include assistance without making the details public, one official said.

For example, he said, Bush and Barco likely will discuss contingencies under which Colombia could continue to wage its anti-drug effort even if its Supreme Court invalidates the extradition treaty.

In addition, given the suspicions felt by many Colombians about U.S. intentions, other aid might be more beneficial if offered quietly, rather than with a made-in-the-U.S.A. label, the official added.

“It’s clear that we want to be helpful to Barco,” he said. “It’s not clear that everything we do would be helpful if it is done publicly.”

Times staff writer James Gerstenzang contributed to this report.