U.S. TO INCREASE TRAINING OF TROOPS IN COLOMBIA TO FIGHT LEFTIST REBELS

BOGOTA - (AP) -- The United States will intensify its training of Colombian
troops to bolster their campaign against leftist rebels, a senior Pentagon
official said Tuesday.

Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it
is in the United States' own interest -- and of other countries in the
region -- to see the rebels defeated.

"Terrorism of any kind affects the stability and security of not only
Colombia but also the entire Western Hemisphere," Myers said at a military
airfield in Bogota as he ended a two-day visit and headed for Nicaragua.

Later Tuesday, in Managua, Myers said the SAM-7 antiaircraft missiles held
by the Nicaraguan military are dangerous weapons that could fall into the
hands of terrorists.

Myers met with Gen. Javier Carrion, leader of the Nicaraguan Army, to
discuss the Russian-made missiles but provided few details of the conversation.

Carrion said U.S. concerns about the SAM-7s are valid, given that so many
of the missiles are in circulation around the world and the appetite on the
black market. The Nicaraguan general emphasized that there is an excellent
exchange of information and help with the United States regarding
terrorism, drug trafficking and migrant smuggling.

Earlier, Myers visited Bogota to see the results of Plan Colombia, a $3
billion initiative aimed at cutting cocaine production in the country and
fighting the rebels, and met with President Alvaro Uribe, the defense and
foreign ministers and top military officials.

The general said the United States could shift some of its aid from
fighting drug trafficking to bolstering Colombia's counterinsurgency
campaign by training additional troops.

Myers' visit came as Washington contemplated how much aid to give the South
American country.

The U.S. House of Representatives last month approved $731 million in
military and economic aid for Colombia and six of its neighbors for 2004.
The U.S. Senate is still working on its version of the bill.

The leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and a smaller
leftist rebel group are fighting a four-decade war against Colombia's
government and illegal right-wing paramilitary fighters. Since Friday, bomb
attacks blamed on the FARC have killed eight people.

Myers also said the Colombian military, assisted by U.S. soldiers,
continues to search for three U.S. military contractors captured by FARC
rebels in February after their plane crash-landed in Colombia.