TIM JOHNSON
             Herald Staff Writer

             BOGOTA, Colombia -- Defense Minister Rodrigo Lloreda has no lack of
             important battles to wage.

             First, there is the battle to modernize and better equip Colombia's 120,000-man
             army and try to inflict some real damage -- for a change -- on several guerrilla
             forces.

             A second challenge is to restore public faith in the military.

             Then, there is Lloreda's personal battle with cancer.

             Make no mistake: Lloreda says he plans to win all the battles.

             Balding and soft-spoken, the 56-year-old Lloreda has the most distinguished
             resume in President Andres Pastrana's Cabinet. He's a former senator and
             governor, former acting president, two-time Cabinet minister, founder of the
             Contadora Group of regional peacemakers in the 1980s, and former ambassador
             to Washington.

             Pastrana acted with savvy by assigning the political portfolio to a political
             heavyweight who can reshape the military, analysts say. Demoralization bedevils
             the armed forces. Four times this year, guerrillas have routed army units. Nearly
             300 soldiers and police officers are held hostage by rebels. Insurgents roam at will
             through half the country.

             Some experts wonder whether the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
             (FARC), a 15,000-member insurgency deeply involved in the cocaine industry,
             might grow strong enough to topple democracy in the next decade.

             This week, hundreds of FARC fighters overran the town of Mitu, capital of
             southeastern Vaupes state on the Brazilian border, and held it for three days
             before retreating when government forces mounted a major counterattack.

             At the outset of an interview, Lloreda (pronounced yo-RAY-da) insisted on his
             support of upcoming peace talks with the FARC and a second group, the National
             Liberation Army.

             ``Peace will come. I don't know how fast, but it will come.  . . . There is a very
             clear public pressure to look for peace,'' he said.

             Seeks larger field force

             Nonetheless, Lloreda's mandate is to prepare the military to fight. And he has
             many plans on the drawing board.

             ``The military has to be strengthened, not only the size but the efficiency,'' he said
             in English mastered in the 1950s at Jesuit-run Georgetown Prep in Washington,
             D.C.

             The military currently has five soldiers in logistics and administration for every
             soldier ready for battle. That 5-1 ratio must be reduced to 3-1, the same as the
             Israeli army, to put the military on a better footing, he said. The first task is to
             reduce reliance on teenage conscripts and bolster the professional corps of
             soldiers, which now numbers around 32,000.

             ``We have to bring that number to 50,000 to 60,000,'' he said. ``About half the
             army should be professional. We have to do that in two or three years.''

             Financed by some $400 million from the sale of ``war bonds'' last year, the military
             is studying purchase of its first real attack helicopters, although Lloreda declined to
             provide details.

             In a program of ``rationalization,'' some of the scores of bases around the nation
             may be shut because they are too remote to adequately defend against attack, he
             said, noting that ``these bases are not easily supported by air or by roads. There
             are no roads.''

             `Peace requires strength'

             Lloreda's second challenge is to pump up military morale and restore a measure of
             public esteem.

             ``The morale problem has to do with the lack of support from society,'' he said.
             Colombian politicians ``want peace but don't understand that peace requires
             strength.''

             Human rights concerns, he added, have left the soldiers and officers ``relatively
             scared to fight . . . not because they are cowards but because afterward you'll
             have a swarm of lawyers after them.''

             The Pastrana government has taken steps to improve the military's image. Just
             after taking office Aug. 7, Pastrana removed four of the five top heads of the
             armed forces, catapulting respected army Gen. Fernando Tapias to become head
             of the joint chiefs of staff.

             ``These weren't routine changes. Tapias leaped over two generals in the hierarchy
             to take over,'' military analyst Alfredo Rangel said.

             Lloreda said Tapias and the four branch chiefs are ``very strong on human rights''
             and that he is sure military officers understand that they are to have ``no dealings
             whatsoever'' with the rightist paramilitary forces blamed for most of Colombia's
             rights violations.

             Rights monitors wary

             Such talk has not convinced everyone. After a meeting with Lloreda, U.S. rights
             monitors came away feeling that issues related to institutionalizing respect for
             human rights were overshadowed by efforts to seek peace.

             ``It was surprising to us, and worrisome, to see such a lack of attention to details,
             other than peace,'' said Robin Kirk of Human Rights Watch/Americas.

             Lloreda has many fans, though. Rangel, the military analyst, praised him for having
             ``the vision of a statesman,'' and others praise his initial steps to reform and
             strengthen the military.

             To take the post, Lloreda left his job as publisher of El Pais, a family-owned
             newspaper in Cali, heeding a friendship with the Pastrana family. It wasn't an easy
             decision. A year ago, Lloreda was diagnosed with myeloma, a cancer that attacks
             bones, and he had recently undergone chemotherapy.

             But now he speaks of the cancer in the past tense, and dismisses questions about
             his health: ``Basically, I'm doing well.''
 

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