DATE=8/28/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=COLOMBIA / NEIGHBORS
NUMBER=5-46931
BYLINE=RHODA METCALFE
DATELINE=BOGOTA
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

            // Re-running w/cq slug date.  Thx China 
Branch //


INTRO:  On Wednesday, President Clinton will visit 
Colombia, highlighting the priority the United States 
gives that South American country. The one point three 
billion dollars in aid recently approved by the U-S 
Congress to fight drug production in Colombia makes it 
the third biggest recipient of U-S aid in the world. 
But Colombia's neighbors say they are becoming worried 
that a frontal attack on illicit drug production could 
rebound on them, pushing drug cultivation, violence, 
left-wing rebels and refugees over the borders into
their countries.  Rhoda Metcalfe has this background 
report from Bogota.

TEXT: As President Clinton prepared to visit Colombia, 
its neighbors nervously began to voice concerns about 
the impact U-S anti-drug aid to that nation may have 
on them.  Ecuador's President Gustavo Noboa met with 
Colombian President Andres Pastrana last week and made 
one thing very clear.

///ACT  -- NOBOA (IN SPANISH) ///

President Noboa says there is no significant harvest 
of illicit drugs in any part of Ecuador.  And Mr. 
Noboa makes clear that is the way he wants it to stay. 

His concerns are well-founded.

/// ACT -- SOUND OF COCA PICKERS ///

The main target for the U-S aid package is the 
province of Putumayo, in Colombia's deep south.
Here Colombian farmers are believed to be growing 
close to 25 percent of the world's total harvest
of coca leaf, the raw material for cocaine.

/// ACT -- SOUND -- BOAT RIDING UP THE RIVER ///

The long meandering Putumayo River is the dividing 
line between Colombia and Ecuador. And right now, it 
is a very porous border. Products of all kinds flow 
across this river, including much of the cement, 
gasoline and other necessities used by processors to 
turn the coca leaf into coca paste, which is the first 
stage in the distilling of cocaine.

U-S military aid to Colombia will include 60 Huey and 
Black Hawk helicopters, to be used in widespread 
fumigation to destroy coca crops.  The Colombian army 
will also use the aircraft to fight left-wing rebels 
who currently protect the crops.

But Jorge Rojas, head of the Colombian human rights 
organization CODHES, believes the coca farmers will 
not stop growing the lucrative plant. They will just 
search for new terrain.

/// ACT -- ROJAS ///

He says the military strategy to destroy coca 
production will just push these migrant farmers deeper 
into the Amazon rainforest and over the borders into 
neighboring countries.

/// END ACT ///

Peru's President Alberto Fujimori has also raised 
concerns that the guerrillas may increasingly flee 
into neighboring countries, looking for safe havens 
from the beefed-up military offensive.  And the 
Brazilian government has already announced plans to 
reinforce its troops along the border.

Venezuela has other concerns.  Paramilitary massacres 
in eastern Colombia have already sent hundreds of 
Colombian refugees spilling over the border into 
Venezuela.

Jose Vicente Rangel, Venezuela's foreign minister has 
voiced fears that the militant anti-drug strategy, 
commonly referred to as Plan Colombia, is going to 
stir up even greater levels of violence in border 
regions.

/// ACT -- RANGEL (IN SPANISH) ///

Mr. Rangel told local media that if Plan Colombia does 
not produce more refugees on the border, that is fine, 
But he added, if it continues the way things are going 
now, Venezuela needs to come to some agreement with 
the Colombian government.

Colombia's foreign minister Guillermo de Soto was 
clearly angered by all the criticism on the eve of Mr. 
Clinton's visit.

/// ACT -- DE SOTO (IN SPANISH) ///

We do not agree, said Mr. de Soto, that Plan Colombia 
should be stigmatized by any country. 

But U-S officials are adopting a different approach to 
Colombia's nervous neighbors.  Anne Patterson, the 
newly installed U-S Ambassador in Colombia, tried to 
offer reassurances at her inaugural news conference.

/// ACT -- PATTERSON (IN SPANISH )

Mrs. Patterson said she thinks the reaction has been a 
little exaggerated. But,she added, the United States 
is very aware of the fears of neighboring countries 
and will do what it can to help them.

Though American officials have not spelled out their 
plans to manage the possible spillover from the new 
attack on drug cultivation in Colombia, the U-S aid 
package does include 70 million dollars for assistance 
to Ecuador, Peru and other nearby countries.

NEB/RM/FC



29-Aug-2000 05:57 AM LOC (29-Aug-2000 0957 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.