Colombia sees winds of change in ties with U.S.

By Monica Garcia

MARIQUITA AIRBASE, Colombia, Oct 10 (Reuter) President Ernesto Samper
said on Friday that he saw Colombia moving toward closer ties with the
United States after three years of hostility over his alleged links to the
drug trade.

``Fortunately new winds are blowing,'' Samper said, citing an easing of
bilateral tensions because of what he described as a change in ``the way
the drug problem is seen in countries like the United States.''

Samper, whose U.S. travel visa was revoked last year, has been reviled by
Washington since he took office in 1994 amid a scandal over charges that he
received millions of dollars in drug money to finance his 1994 election
campaign.

He spoke at an airbase in central Tolima province where police pilots from
six other Latin American nations, including Peru, graduated from a training
course by Colombia's National Police on drug crop eradication and aerial
fumigation.

The ceremony was attended by U.S. Ambassador Myles Frechette. The U.S.
envoy, due to be replaced in December, has been a vocal critic of Samper
because of his alleged links to drug lords.

Samper has argued repeatedly that Colombia and the United States the
world's biggest producer and biggest consumer of cocaine, respectively
were natural allies in the drug war. He said on Friday that he saw a change
in the U.S. focus.

``It's been understood that efforts against (drug) production will be
totally ineffective over the long run if they aren't accompanied by decided
and clear efforts against consumption,'' he said.

``All we're asking for is international coresponsibility in the fight
against drugs,'' he added.

Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez spoke of an apparent thaw in
U.S.Colombia ties and a possible move to drop Colombia from a blacklist
of countries that fail to cooperate in U.S. antidrug efforts after two
recent meetings with U.S. President Bill Clinton.

An upcoming visit by Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug czar, has
been hailed by officials in Bogota as a sure sign Washington wants to put
relations on better footing. McCaffrey, arriving for a threeday visit Oct.
19, would be the highest U.S. official to visit Colombia since early 1996.

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