Military

DATE=10/20/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=Brazil-Colombia (L-only)

NUMBER=2-268211

BYLINE=Bill Rodgers

DATELINE=Rio de Janeiro

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: A leading Brazilian newspaper has published a military report warning that drug traffickers linked to leftist Colombian guerrillas are operating inside Brazilian territory in the Amazon rain forest. As V-O-A's Bill Rodgers reports from Rio de Janeiro, the document warns that these drug traffickers can operate freely because of a lack of border security.

TEXT: In a front page article Friday, the newspaper Jornal do Brasil published the contents of a Brazilian military report warning of incursions by Colombian drug traffickers linked to the leftist Colombian rebel group, FARC.

The document said these incursions are taking place in Brazil's eastern state of Amazonas, and warns that the traffickers operate freely because of the lack of security along the Brazilian border with Colombia.

According to the article, the 15-page report by Brazil's Air Force also warns of possible attacks by FARC rebels on Brazilian border outposts to obtain weapons or supplies. It said such attacks are possible because of the increased presence of the FARC in Colombian territory across the border from Amazonas state.

In the past, the FARC has strongly denied any intention of attacking Brazilian border outposts. One of its representatives in Brazil warned recently about other possible slip-over effects - such as increased numbers of refugees fleeing Colombia as the fighting there intensifies.

The Brazilian Air Force document was written last year, but was apparently leaked to the Jornal do Brasil at the just-concluded hemispheric Defense Chiefs conference in Manaus, Brazil.

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Defense chiefs from more than 20 nations ended their four-day conference late Thursday with a joint declaration expressing support for nations combating drug trafficking in the continent.

During the conference, some participants expressed concern over U-S backing for Plan Colombia - a Colombian anti-drug program aimed in large part at depriving the FARC and other armed groups from earning income from the drug trade. Some of Colombia's neighbors are concerned that increased fighting could spill across their borders. (Signed)

NEB/WFR/JP