COLUMBIAN JUNGLE BASE IS FOCUS OF U.S.  ANTI-DRUG AID

TRES ESQUINAS, Colombia--This base in the lush South American jungle is ground zero for President Clinton's emergency proposal to help fund a massive expansion of Colombia's anti-narcotics operation.

"This is an island in a sea of guerrillas and narco-traffickers," U.S.  Army Lt.  Col.  Jan P.  Ithier said as he toured the base--where U.S.  special forces troops train and monitor the performance of Colombian soldiers--with an American delegation last week.

U.S.  and Colombian authorities are now engaged in an elaborate round of salesmanship to promote the $1.6-billion aid package, which Clinton announced last month, to skeptics in both Washington and Bogota, the Colombian capital, who charge that heaps of new money and old aircraft will do little to ease an intractable problem.

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