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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 .