Pubdate: Fri, 01 Sep 2000
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2000 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071
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Author: Stephen Buckley, Washington Post Foreign Service

S. AMERICA FRETS OVER COLOMBIA

BRASILIA, Aug. 31 - An unprecedented meeting of South American presidents 
opened here today with leaders stressing their support for Colombia while 
expressing deep concern about the possible "Vietnamization" of its 
four-decade-old civil war or spillover of the conflict into neighboring 
countries.

The dozen leaders gathered in the Brazilian capital for a summit conference 
organized to encourage increased economic integration among South American 
nations. But one day after President Clinton's visit to Colombia--and with 
$1.3 billion in U.S. aid on the way, the bulk of it for the military--the 
agenda was overshadowed by the $7.5 billion Plan Colombia designed to fight 
drug trafficking and stabilize the country.

In recent days, Colombia's South American neighbors--Brazil, Ecuador, Peru 
and Venezuela--have grown increasingly vocal in expressing worries that 
they will become victims of spillover from the Colombian government's 
efforts to cripple the rebel forces that derive much of their financing 
from protecting and taxing drug traffickers. They are scrambling to shore 
up their borders against refugees and rebels seeking safe haven, saying 
that they do not want to become new hotbeds of drug trafficking and production.

"The Colombia Plan is their plan--the Colombia Plan--and we support the 
Colombian government," Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso said 
in an interview Wednesday. "But Brazil has to take into account the 
consequences of the Colombia Plan. We have to protect our borders. That's 
our problem, not Colombia's problem."

Already there have been reports of guerrilla incursions into Venezuela, 
Panama and Ecuador, as well as sightings of coca and poppy plantations in 
Peru operated by Colombians.

Representatives from Colombia and Brazil tried to play down how much time 
officials will spend discussing Colombia's troubles. But officials from 
other countries said that Colombia will be a major topic of conversation 
throughout the two-day meeting of leaders of a region stretching from south 
of Panama to Tierra del Fuego. While there have been many summit meetings 
of the larger Latin American region, this is the first made up of leaders 
only from South America.

Cardoso and other leaders here have invoked the specter of the Vietnam War, 
suggesting that countries across the Western Hemisphere--the United States 
as well as those in South America--could become entangled in a conflict 
from which they cannot extricate themselves.

"We have to be alert to avoid the Vietnamization of that region," 
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said at a news conference Wednesday, 
referring to Colombia's neighbors.

Likewise, Ecuadoran Foreign Minister Heinz Moeller said his nation "has to 
be aware of the cancerous tumor being removed from Colombia and 
metastasizing in Ecuador. Right now, Ecuador does not have drug 
plantations. We don't have them, and we don't want them."

During his trip to Colombia on Wednesday, Clinton sought to calm those 
fears, saying, "This is not Vietnam." He also promised Colombia's neighbors 
that "the United States will not abandon them. We have funds that can be 
used to help other countries solve the problem."

In addition, Colombian President Andres Pastrana has been increasingly 
aggressive in recent days in seeking to assuage the concerns of nearby 
countries. Samuel Navas, the Colombian ambassador to Brazil, said he 
thought Pastrana had been in touch with leaders from each of Colombia's 
neighbors in the past few days to address their worries.

Cardoso said Wednesday that Brazil is worried primarily about arms 
trafficking and drug producers using the Brazilian portion of the Amazon 
rain forest to transport chemicals for processing cocaine and heroin. 
Brazil recently sent 6,000 soldiers to its 1,000-mile border with Colombia 
and could send another 6,000 within the next year, Brazil's national 
security chief told reporters earlier this week.

Moeller said Ecuador also plans to tighten border patrols and will be more 
suspicious of citizens of either country who frequently go back and forth. 
He also said Ecuador will spend $250 million over the next two years for 
social and economic development in border regions to try to discourage 
Ecuadorans there from seeing the drug trade as a viable way to make a living.

Colombia's neighbors appear to have softened their rhetoric for the summit. 
Earlier this week, Brazilian Foreign Minister Luiz Felipe Lampreia said, 
for example, that the possibility of Colombia's war spreading represented 
"a menace to Brazilian territory." But South American leaders thus far have 
stressed that they plan to send Colombia "a message of solidarity," in 
Cardoso's words, during the Brasilia meeting.

For its part, Colombia will emphasize the economic and social development 
aspects of Plan Colombia, Navas said, and will stress the notion of "shared 
responsibility" with its neighbors, meaning that "neighboring countries 
should control their weapons trafficking, chemical trafficking and illegal 
flights."

The meeting, being held in this capital known for its quirky architecture 
and wide boulevards, was convened by Cardoso. It is designed to bolster the 
continent's economic power by forging stronger ties among the countries, 
primarily through improved infrastructure such as railroads and highways 
and by sharing energy resources. Among topics to be discussed are crime, 
democracy, regional integration and infrastructure, information technology 
and trade.
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