Pubdate: Tue, 29 Aug 2000
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 2000 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
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BRAZIL SAYS 'PLAN COLOMBIA' BIGGEST SECURITY RISK

BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) -- Brazil is dispatching thousands of troops to 
its jungle border with Colombia to prevent fallout as the neighbouring 
country launches an offensive against drug traffickers and rebel forces, 
the national security chief said.

Gen. Alberto Cardoso, the president's chief security adviser, told Reuters 
in an interview late on Monday that "Plan Colombia" -- the neighbouring 
country's $7.5 billion assault on drug traffickers in rebel strongholds -- 
is causing major concern for Brazil.

"For Brazil, Colombia is causing the biggest worry," Cardoso said. "Our 
attention is dedicated to the effects it could have on Brazil, like the 
flight of guerrillas and the transfer of (drug) laboratories and plantations."

Cardoso said Brazil already has sent 6,000 troops to the Amazon border, 
winding along about 1,000 miles (1,644 km) of dense jungle. Within one 
year, another 6,000 troops will be sent to the region, where they will 
remain until Plan Colombia has been completed, Cardoso added.

The troops normally would be stationed throughout the Amazon region.

"The army will perform a serious operation of surveillance and defence of 
our territory," Cardoso said.

While Brazil has offered moral support to Colombia's peace efforts, it also 
has added its voice to a growing chorus of concern among neighbouring 
countries, including Peru, Ecuador and Venezuela.

Neighbours worry that the conflict will spill over into their territory, 
either in the form of refugees, cocaine production, guerrillas or drug 
traffickers seeking shelter from a widely expected military offensive.

Particularly controversial has been $1.3 billion in mostly U.S. military 
aid to support Plan Colombia. Under the package, U.S. military advisors 
will go to Colombia to train special battalions in fighting the drug trade 
and, indirectly, the leftist guerrillas who protect and profit from the 
trafficking.

Brazil's Foreign Minister Luiz Felipe Lampreia said during a recent visit 
by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright that Latin America's biggest 
country was not as committed as the United States to Plan Colombia and 
would not take part in any common international action.

U.S. President Bill Clinton is due to arrive in Colombia on Wednesday to 
show his support for the government efforts to end its four-decade-long 
civil war.

In the interview, Cardoso said he doubted that displaced drug traffickers 
and guerrillas would head toward Brazil because in the past they "have 
preferred other destinations."

"But this is no guarantee, so we need planning to safeguard the border 
during Plan Colombia," Cardoso said.
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