Pubdate: Fri, 01 Sep 2000
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2000 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  PO Box 120191, San Diego, CA, 92112-0191
Fax: (619) 293-1440
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Author: Stan Lehman, Associated Press

S. AMERICAN SUMMIT DEBATES ANTI-DRUG POLICY

Leaders Fear Action From U.S. Military

BRASILIA, Brazil -- South American leaders yesterday opened their first 
regional summit amid concerns of a possible spillover from Colombia's 
anti-drug offensive and of U.S. military involvement in the fight.

Colombian President Andres Pastrana quickly reassured the 11 other leaders 
that his anti-drug campaign -- known as Plan Colombia -- will not lead to 
American military intervention.

"I am the President of Colombia. There will not be a military 
intervention," he said. "The world should understand that drug trafficking 
is the common enemy."

The two-day summit was convened by Brazilian President Fernando Henrique 
Cardoso to discuss integrating the region's economies, strengthening its 
democratic institutions and improving education and technology.

But the consequences of Colombia's drug war was becoming a major focus of 
the meeting, which got under way one day after President Clinton visited 
Colombia to lend support and release $1.3 billion in military aid to the 
counternarcotics program.

The U.S. military hardware and training are aimed at combating armed groups 
that protect plantations producing most of the world's cocaine.

"We will fully support the plan provided its main goal is a negotiated 
peace settlement," Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told reporters. "What 
worries us is the plan's strong military-oriented focus."

He said Venezuela has reinforced its border with Colombia and planned to 
provide humanitarian assistance to refugees. He added that in a single day 
last year, 22,000 Colombian refugees crossed the Venezuelan border fleeing 
violence.

Colombia shares a 1,400-mile border with Venezuela and a 960-mile border 
with Brazil.

Chavez said he feared that Colombia's anti-narcotics efforts "could lead us 
to a Vietnamization of the whole Amazon region."

Drug trafficking, he said, must "not be fought with military actions, but 
with intelligence services and the cooperation of all countries affected."

For its part, Brazil worries that drug traffickers and guerrillas fleeing 
the Colombian offensive could cross into its territory and has placed army 
and police troops in the region on alert.

Brazil has made it clear that while it supports Plan Colombia it opposes 
any active military involvement.

Summit leaders also are taking first steps to create a South American trade 
bloc. They want to integrate the continent's economies through a network of 
highways, bridges and river routes as well as telecommunications.

A continent-wide trade bloc would give the region greater bargaining power 
in the negotiations leading up to the creation of the U.S.-sponsored Free 
Trade Area of the Americas, a hemisphere-wide free trade zone, scheduled to 
be in place by 2005.

While the United States wants a free trade area by 2005, Brazil wants to go 
more slowly to give regional trade blocs enough time to solidify and merge 
into a South American-wide bloc capable of competing on a hemispheric scale.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D