DATE=10/24/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-268379

TITLE=BRAZIL / COLOMBIA (L-ONLY)

BYLINE=BILL RODGERS

DATELINE=RIO DE JANEIRO

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

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INTRO: A top Brazilian official says his government believes there is a "very low probability" that Colombia's anti-drug program will have a serious effect across the Colombian border into Brazil. V-O-A's Bill Rodgers in Rio de Janeiro reports Brazil's national security advisor made the evaluation Tuesday while commenting on on the program, known as Plan Colombia.

TEXT: Brazilian National Security Advisor, General Alberto Cardoso, says his government is concerned with a whole range of possible effects resulting from Colombia's multi-billion-dollar anti-drug strategy known as Plan Colombia.

Plan Colombia is aimed at reducing drug production and cultivation, and also at depriving leftist guerrillas and other armed groups of the money they earn by protecting the drug trade. The United States is providing one-point-three-billion dollars to support Plan Colombia, mainly in military aid.

Brazil is among Colombia's neighbors which has expressed concern that increased fighting in Colombia could have a spillover effect into its territory. Brazilian security advisor Cardoso (Tuesday) outlined these concerns to foreign reporters in Rio de Janeiro, but also downplayed the likelihood of a spillover effect.

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Today, our concerns are over the military component of Plan Colombia, relating to the migration of cocaine laboratories and plantations of coca, refugees - to take care of them - and some concerns over the environment, and, of course, with the guerrillas - if eventually the guerrillas try to find sanctuary in Brazil. But I'd like to say, to reinforce the idea, that all those concerns have little probability, very low probability of occurring.

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General Cardoso went on to say Brazil has adequate security to protect its 17-hundred kilometer border with Colombia. He said under a joint Brazilian-Colombian program known as Plan Cobra, Brazil can mobilize enough police and military personnel to prevent Colombian drug traffickers from moving their operations into Brazil's Amazon region.

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However, the Brazilian national security advisor predicts Plan Colombia will result in increased fighting between Colombian troops and rebels. He said Brazil would like to see a negotiated solution to Colombia's decades-long guerrilla conflict, but he ruled out any negotiation with drug traffickers.

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This is a tradition in our country for conflicts to be resolved by negotiations, with the drugs no, the narcotrafficking, no, they have to be destroyed.

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Plan Colombia has become a political issue in Brazil with opposition parties voicing their strong concerns and objections to the program. They say they fear the fighting in Colombia will escalate, and eventually draw in neighboring countries. However last week, Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso expressed support for Colombia's efforts to combat the drug trade. (Signed)

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