COLOMBIA: The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, met Colombia's newly elected President Mr Alvaro Uribe yesterday to show support for his security crackdown in the troubled Latin-American country.
Ahead of the meeting at the presidential palace in Bogota, Mr Powell told reporters he was seeking ways to give further assistance to the Colombian government's campaign against "narco-traffickers and narco-terrorists". But he was also expected to stress the importance of preventing human rights abuses by the Colombian security forces, who have been strongly criticised in this regard.
There was tight security as Mr Powell arrived at a military airport in Bogota on Tuesday night.
Last week, four grenades exploded on a street near the US embassy and the Colombian attorney-general's office.
In addition to his meeting with Mr Uribe and other officials, the Secretary of State's schedule also included a visit to an anti-narcotics unit in Bogota. The US has been backing efforts to eradicate the coca leaf, raw material for cocaine, by spraying the crops from the air.
Mr Powell said his visit demonstrated support for President Uribe's fight against "those terrorist elements within Colombian society who are trying to destroy the dream of the Colombian people to have a democracy that gives them a society that is safe".
Colombia is the source of 90 per cent of the cocaine and much of the heroin consumed in the US. The current spraying campaign is far more extensive than previous efforts, with officials hopeful that coca farmers, particularly in the south-western Putumayo province, will become discouraged and try legal crops instead. One problem is that spraying does not discriminate between legal and illegal crops.
The US has provided well over $1 billion in aid to Colombia since 2000, mostly in military goods. The aid was initially restricted to counter-narcotics work, but the administration has authorised the Colombians to use it against insurgents.
Last September, the State Department drew protests from US rights groups after certifying that Colombia's armed forces had met human rights standards imposed by Congress in three areas. The action cleared the way for the release of $41 million in military aid.
Mr Powell was also scheduled to meet local human rights groups yesterday. Perhaps the worst abuser of human rights in Colombia, the United Self-Defence Forces of Columbia (AUC), a right-wing paramilitary organisation, announced a unilateral ceasefire last week. Like the left-wing FARC rebels, the AUC has strong connections with the drugs trade.
But Mr Powell said the US administration would continue to seek the extradition of the group's leader, Mr Carlos Castano, who was indicted in September for allegedly exporting 17 tonnes of cocaine into the US and Europe since 1997. Mr Castano "remains indicted under US law, and we would like to bring him to justice", said Mr Powell.
The Secretary of State said there had been a significant expansion in coca eradication efforts in Colombia this year but it had not reached the point where eradication was outstripping plantings.
But Colombia must also give the highest priority to curbing human rights abuses by security forces, he added. "There will be a big expectation that, as the Colombian armed forces and the Colombian police are strengthened to deal with this problem, there can be no tolerance for abuse of human rights of the kind that has been seen in the past."
Mr Powell had planned a visit 14 months ago but cancelled it after the September 11th terror attacks.