Pubdate: Sun, 17 Dec 2000
Source: Duluth News-Tribune (MN)
Copyright: 2000 Duluth News-Tribune
Contact:  424 W. First St., Duluth, MN 55802
Website: http://www.duluthnews.com/
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Author: James Anderson, Associated Press

U.S.-BACKED DRUG WAR WORRIES COLOMBIA'S NEIGHBORS

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Latin American leaders fear that the White House's 
drug czar is all too right in his expectations for an impending U.S.-backed 
anti-drug offensive in Colombia: heavy fighting, casualties -- and refugees 
flooding over the region's remote, often lawless borders.

In Bogota, Colombia's capital, on Nov. 20, U.S. drug chief Barry McCaffrey 
stressed that Washington was providing $180 million in aid to Colombia's 
neighbors to deal with those threats. U.S. officials are promising even 
more aid.

The news came as a surprise to Venezuela, which like several South American 
nations has yet to be convinced that Plan Colombia can work.

"We didn't know a word about the possibility of getting aid from the U.S. 
government to fight the threat of refugees, increasing violence and drug 
production moving into our territory," Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jose 
Vicente Rangel said.

"That's one of the problems with it. There is no direct or reliable 
information regarding the plan, and comments such as McCaffrey's just 
create more confusion."

His concerns are shared by many in the region.

Brazil has boosted troop strength along its 1,020-mile jungle border with 
Colombia. Hundreds of refugees have fled rebel violence into Ecuador. 
Panamanian border towns have been raided by Colombian rebels. Peru fears 
the conflict will spread into its northern Amazon territory. Venezuelan 
cattlemen and businessmen are abducted by Colombian rebels for ransom.

The dimensions of Colombia's 36-year-old conflict are growing even before 
the military element of Plan Colombia kicks into high gear next year.

Under the plan, U.S.-trained troops using U.S.-made helicopters will try to 
overrun rebel-held areas producing cocaine and heroin. Planes would then 
spray drug-yielding crops with herbicide.

McCaffrey and other U.S. officials say the Colombian government needs help 
to fight drug trafficking, which earns the country's rebels and rightist 
paramilitaries an estimated $1 billion a year.

And they insist Plan Colombia won't become another Vietnam.

On Dec. 5, Gen. Peter Pace, chief of the U.S. Southern Command, met with 
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to lobby for support for the plan and to 
offer anti-drug aid. Venezuelan and U.S. officials closely cooperate on 
drugs, although Venezuela bans U.S. overflights for sovereignty reasons.

Washington's arguments have yet to win over Chavez and others among 
Colombia's neighbors, who fear the conflict -- just like Vietnam -- will 
indeed spill over.

Ecuador says more than 1,000 Colombians have crossed the border to flee 
violence, and it fears guerrillas and drug traffickers may follow, 
especially in the wild border region of Sucumbios. The U.S. government, 
which is conducting drug surveillance flights from Ecuador, is seeking $35 
million in aid for Ecuador to handle refugees.

Venezuela, which shares a 1,500-mile border with Colombia, has been the 
harshest critic of Plan Colombia's military aspect.

Chavez has warned the conflict could spread throughout the region. He also 
has been accused by critics of maintaining ties with Colombia's rebels, a 
charge he emphatically denies.

His opposition to Plan Colombia and his offers to mediate in Colombia's 
conflict have stirred criticism at home and abroad. On Nov. 24, Colombia 
briefly recalled its ambassador to Venezuela after two Colombian guerrilla 
leaders appeared on the floor of the Venezuelan congress.

The Institutional Military Front, a group of retired Venezuelan generals, 
charged Chavez reduced troop presence along the western border with 
Colombia -- resulting in a safe haven for rebels -- because of "his 
ideological closeness with Colombian guerrilla groups." Chavez says sending 
troops to the border would provoke both Colombia's rebels and its rightist 
paramilitaries.

"The guerrillas are not going to peacefully allow cocaine producers to be 
displaced," said Mario Ivan Carratu Molina, a retired Venezuelan vice 
admiral who supports Plan Colombia.

Coca planters, meanwhile, already have moved some operations from Colombia 
into Venezuela, said Mildred Camero, vice president of an Organization of 
American States anti-drug panel.
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