COLOMBIA GREETS DECERTIFICATION WITH REBUFF.

Byline: Diana Jean Schemo The New York Times

Colombia, the world's largest producer of cocaine, Wednesday suspended all aerial eradication of drug-producing crops in a sharp rebuff to the United States.

The move was an unexpectedly swift and forceful reaction to the Clinton administration's decision to include Colombia on a list of nations not fully cooperating with the United States in the fight against drugs. In suspending the flights, Colombia shelved what American officials viewed as a cornerstone of its anti-drug programs.

Joaquin Polo, Colombia's anti-drug czar, announced the decision in a radio interview Wednesday afternoon in which he said Colombia was reviewing any further cooperation with the United States on any anti-drug programs.

``The work of fumigation is temporarily suspended while, as the government announced, the entire subject of international cooperation with the government of the United States is reviewed,'' Polo said.

In Washington, a senior State Department official said that the United States learned of the Colombian government's decision to suspend aerial eradication only Wednesday morning.

``We have not received any explanation for this decision, but hope that it has been taken for technical and not for policy reasons,'' said the official, who declined to be identified. ``We urge the Colombian government to resume eradication operations as soon as possible.''

Polo said Colombian officials did not notify American Ambassador Myles Frechette of the decision in advance.

Clinton administration officials have said the decision last week to decertify Colombia was largely a repudiation of President Ernesto Samper, who has been linked to drug traffickers. For his part, Samper consistently framed the American rebuke as a national insult.

The aerial spraying of fields growing coca and poppies is a risky tactic in which helicopters escorting the planes must sometimes fire at the ground to deter attack from the growers. The United States has continued to finance virtually the entire fumigation effort in Colombia even though it decertified the country last year. It supplies all of the planes and helicopters, technical aid and training for Colombian pilots.