'I Have Been Honorable'.(Brief Article)

Alvaro Uribe Velez is a man with a short fuse. During an hourlong interview with NEWSWEEK's Joseph Contreras in a Bogota hotel suite, the 49-year-old presidential candidate bristled over questions concerning allegations of past and present supporters' links to drug trafficking. Excerpts:

CONTRERAS: You have called for more U.S. military aid to help Colombia fight communist guerrillas as well as drug traffickers.

URIBE: I have supported Plan Colombia from the beginning, but we need to improve it. We also need similar assistance to prevent crimes like terrorism, kidnapping and massacres. Our natural ally in this area is the United States. We're not speaking of soldiers. We are talking about [more] helicopters, trainers, technology and money.

What is your counternarcotics strategy?

The armed forces estimate that 20 planes carrying cocaine fly out of Colombia daily. Without [the resumption of] interdiction flights, Plan Colombia will fail. The fight against drugs must also include a social component for the farmers who plant coca and opium poppies. I am proposing an agreement with 50,000 peasant families that would give them between $2,000 and $2,500 a year, provided they stop raising drug crops.

Three years of peace talks with Colombia's largest guerrilla army yielded no results. How will your government deal with the guerrillas?

I don't rule out negotiations. But the guerrillas will have to accept a ceasefire and make a commitment to refrain from terrorist activity as preconditions.