Though the Clinton administration agrees that Colombia has not met all of Congress' conditions for its receipt of funds, human rights advocates are still unsatisfied. They charge that the U.S. government is willing to overlook the human rights provisions to pursue an important strategy in its ongoing war on drugs.

Vivanco believes that Clinton could still use his political muscle to exert pressure on the human rights issue. "He could use the visit to highlight his human rights agenda in very explicit terms. The most important thing is not what he is going to say in private. Publicly he has to say that the bad apples need to be isolated ... Everyone must understand that they have to qualify for the next certification process at the end of the year." As part of the conditions for aid, Colombia must be certified again in December -- if it fails to be certified, continued funding would be withdrawn.

The human rights debate in Washington baffles some Colombian officials. "No government that wants to violate human rights would ask for money from other governments," explains Jaime Ruíz, an advisor to Pastrana. "We knew that the moment we got the aid from the United States we would be putting a reflector on our internal affairs."

Yet the need to address human rights conditions becomes more obvious as the civilian toll increases. Colombians recoil in terror at the statistics: a murder every 20 minutes, an attack by a guerrilla or paramilitary group every six hours and a kidnapping every three-and-a-half hours. Recent figures released by the federal coroner's office show that more than 14,000 Colombians were killed in war-related violence during the first six months of this year alone -- and 90 percent of those casualties were civilian.

In the light of such alarming statistics, calls for humanitarian agreements with the armed groups are getting louder. "What we can affirm with certainty is that as the war continues to develop in the middle of civilian noncombatants, amidst parks, schools and churches converted in military objectives ... and while the international humanitarian laws are not observed there will be more tragedies," stated an editorial in the influential daily El Tiempo. But even journalists can't come to an agreement. "Are we to think that our conflict is a soccer game where each armed group would meet in a defined space and fight?" asked Mauricio Vargas, editor of the newsweekly Cambio.

What makes the issue even more troubling in Colombia is the failure of human rights monitors to enforce existing laws. Doctors Without Borders, the French group that won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for its work in Kosovo and elsewhere, just saw one of its health promoters get kidnapped by guerrillas. "Colombia is a difficult country for us," said the group's director in Colombia. "The army thinks we are aiding the guerrillas, while the guerrillas kidnap us."

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