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)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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