Colombia's Pastrana drums up support for peace plan, drug war

Agence France Presse
By 18 October 1999
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BOGOTA -- Colombian President Andres Pastrana kicked off a tour of North America and Europe aimed at promoting his peace plan and anti-drug strategy.

Pastrana's tour includes stops in Houston, Texas; Oviedo, Spain; and at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.

Pastrana is scheduled for interviews with Texas governor George W. Bush, who is also the lead Republican presidential contender in the 2000 US presidential elections.

In Europe, the Colombian president is scheduled to meet with Spanish Premier Jose Maria Aznar and European Parliament President Nicole Fontaine, as well as US and French executives.

Shortly after midday Monday, Pastrana boarded a commercial flight for Houston, where he is to meet Bush Tuesday for what Colombian foreign ministry officials said would be talks centered on the president's efforts to craft a peace deal with the main leftist guerrilla movements in Colombia.

Pastrana is set to tell Bush about his three-year "Colombia Plan" aimed at stepping up the fight against drug traffickers, completing peace talks with the insurgents, and kick starting the nation's economy.

Bogota hopes the international community will contribute 3.5 billion dollars out of the initiative's total cost of 7.5 billion.

Colombia's government has repeatedly declared its confidence that the Republican-led US Congress will approve an increase in anti-drug aid to Colombia.

After meeting with Bush, Pastrana and Mining and Energy Minister Luis Carlos Valenzuela are to meet with US oil executives. The Colombians will detail recent legal reforms easing restrictions on foreign participation in petroleum exploration and exploitation in Colombia.

The reforms aim to increase foreign investment in oil production until 2005, when production in currently exploited oil fields is expected to start dropping.

Oil has trumped coffee as the number one Colombian export, and could bring in some three billion dollars this year, according to Colombia's state-run petroleum company.

On Wednesday, Pastrana is scheduled to visit the 55th general assembly of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) meeting in Houston. He will discuss threats to the freedom of the press in Colombia, where 105 reporters have been killed in the last 11 years.

Thursday and Friday Pastrana will be in Paris, meeting with French executives and reporters before heading to Spain to receive a humanitarian prize on behalf of a Colombian institute.

And on October 25, Pastrana plans to meet with members of the European Commission, Parliament, and human rights court.

He plans to ask the European Union to de-link preferential tariff rules from environmental and labor standards, presidential advisors say.