WASHINGTON-Despite repeated promises, the Clinton administration has declined to submit to Congress a major aid package for Colombia, delivering instead what the South American nation's leading newsmagazine called a "slap in the face."
President Clinton recently assured his counterpart, Colombian President Andres Pastrana, that he would propose major additional aid in January.
But angry Colombians say inaction in Washington has delayed their efforts to raise $3.5 billion abroad to finance a sweeping program to fight the drug trade and nourish peace talks with leftist guerrillas.
"There was great disappointment that it didn't come through this year," said an advisor to Pastrana, who asked not to be named. "We needed this as a stamp of approval to get aid from the Europeans."
Neither the White House nor Republican legislators brought up a new aid package for Colombia in the waning days of the session, even though several high-level U.S. officials visited Bogota in recent months to coach Colombia on how to pitch for more assistance.
Both parties agree that Colombia is in dire trouble from both guerrillas and narcotics production, but their inaction underscored sharply divergent views on what to do, observers said. The matter has now been postponed until 2000, an election year that analysts say may bring even greater bickering.
"There's a lot of nervousness about grabbing this issue because it's seen as complicated and risky," said Michael Shifter, a senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue, a policy institute.
Colombia's ambassador to Washington, Luis Alberto Moreno, said his nation fell victim to "a game of chicken" in which the White House and Republicans each waited for the other to propose the aid, not daring to act alone.
"The way in which Washington handled the matter was a slap in the face to Colombia," Semana magazine wrote.
In private, Clinton administration officials who focus on Colombia voice dismay that the nation was told it stood to gain as much as $1 billion in aid, only to see the legislative session come to an end without action. U.S. aid for the last fiscal year totaled $289 million, much of it a one-time outlay to the national police.
"I'm distraught," one executive branch official said. "We gave them 10 conditions.
They probably met eight of them. Then we essentially said, 'We're just kidding.' "
"We sold these guys down the river," echoed a State Department official.
Pastrana, already weak politically, lost credibility that he could rally the U.S. assistance that most Colombians felt was a sure thing, Shifter said.
Before visiting in July, White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey declared that Colombia was in "an emergency" due to surging leftist rebels and a booming narcotics trade. He floated a plan to offer $1 billion in aid. Weeks later, Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering urged the Pastrana government to write a strategy paper. The result was Plan Colombia, a 31-page document.
The plan addressed a political necessity of the Clinton administration: It distinguished between a war on drugs and a war against a surging leftist rebel movement, financed greatly by the drug industry. Washington says it wants to help in the first war, but not the second.
Some academic experts question whether such a policy can succeed.
"The United States has sought to impose this idea of two battlefields when there is really only one," said Caesar Sereseres of the University of California at Irvine.
Even on the anti-drug front, perceptions diverge greatly over what to do. Some Republicans accuse the Clinton administration of failing to deliver past U.S. counter-drug aid in a timely fashion.
"Less than half of the money we set aside for Colombia [last year] has been delivered," Rep. John Mica, a Winter Park Republican, told The Herald. "Before we send more money, we want to see what's happened here."
Meanwhile, other Republicans say an "astounding" rise in coca production in Colombia should prompt immediate action.
"The situation in Colombia is out of control," Rep. Porter Goss, a Republican from Fort Myers, said in a statement after a recent intelligence briefing. "If the wildfire in Colombia continues burning out of control, the effect on our hemisphere will be devastating."
On the Democratic side, some legislators worry that greater U.S. aid will embolden an armed forces that have a tarnished image on human rights.
U.S. officials urge Colombia to be patient and to understand the internal political dynamics of Washington.
"Look, it's not over. The administration has said it will seek a supplemental [aid package] in January. The issue is how much and when, not whether," one U.S. official said.
Ambassador Moreno said he is confident that Clinton will pull together a larger assistance package by early next year.
"I think we will be able to get together $600 million," he said.