U.S. WEIGHS EXPANDING AID PLAN TO COLOMBIA'S NEIGHBORS

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 - Even as its $1.3 billion anti-drug program for
Colombia is off to a sputtering start, the United States is making plans to
expand its aid and cooperation to combat a "spillover effect" of drug
trafficking and guerrilla activities in neighboring Latin American nations,
Clinton administration officials say.

Consideration of the broader approach comes as Colombia's neighbors voice
rising concern that the aid plan will inflame the conflict further and
spread instability throughout the region as American helicopters and
American-trained counternarcotics battalions deploy in coming months.

If pursued by the next administration, the broader plan would greatly
increase Washington's investment in nations from Panama to Peru, most of
which are struggling with political or economic turmoil and are seen as
vulnerable to the organized crime, paramilitary groups and drug-financed
rebels that currently rattle Colombia.

Consultations with Colombia's neighbors are still in the early phases,
officials say, and there are few specific commitments so far. But Latin
American diplomats said they expect the American aid in coming years to
dwarf the $180 million in regional help approved by Congress this year;
Ecuador alone is seeking $400 million over four years.

Clinton administration officials say they are merely extending their
approach to reflect the reality that the effort in Colombia cannot succeed
without regional support. "I think this is evolving now into not just a
pure Colombia issue, but an Andean regional issue, something it has always
been," said Under Secretary of State Thomas R. Pickering.

The administration felt compelled to focus on Colombia because it was in
startling difficulty, Mr. Pickering said. But he added, "I think in future
years there will be a broader regional aspect to this as we plan and
propose to the Congress new budgets for this kind of activity."

Whether Congress will sustain a regional approach is not clear. Republican
leaders have vigorously supported what is called Plan Colombia and have
pressed the administration to free up funds and equipment. But so far
Congress has cast the effort narrowly as a fight against drugs, even as
some members warn that American troops could be drawn into combat with
antigovernment guerrillas who have alliances with the narcotics traffickers.

During the presidential campaign, both Gov. George W. Bush and Vice
President Al Gore expressed support for Plan Colombia.

But even given the prospect of greater aid, several of Colombia's neighbors
are resisting an American approach that they say relies too heavily on the
military and could involve them in war.

"We feel the Plan Colombia is for Colombia," said Guillermo Ford, Panama's
ambassador to the United States. "Panama does not want to get involved in
the internal problems of Colombia. We've been shying away from that in
every way."

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, a former army colonel, has been
especially outspoken against the American strategy. He ruffled Colombia
last month when his government allowed a spokeswoman for Colombia's largest
rebel group to denounce Plan Colombia on the floor of its National Assembly.

Officials across the region are eager, however, for American aid, credits
and trade advantages. Even if those countries suspect that Washington is
trying to buy their support for a plan with which they do not fully agree,
officials cite the compelling need to help underdeveloped parts of their
countries susceptible to drug traffickers and guerrillas and to provide
sources of income other than the narcotics trade for poor peasants.

Ecuador, which borders Colombia's rebel-dominated Putumayo Province, is
seen as especially vulnerable.

"This problem is coming on top of us, just as we are beginning to feel some
oxygen," said Ivonne A-Baki, Ecuador's ambassador to Washington. Despite
its misgivings, Ecuador is allowing the United States to use an air base on
the Pacific coast in the expectation of hundreds of millions in future aid.
"Everything comes back to the issue of poverty," Ms. A-Baki said.

Some analysts say the Clinton administration stumbled by failing to
emphasize development assistance in Plan Colombia. American officials
counter that the package is currently weighted toward military aid only
because European and Japanese donors have failed to come through with funds
for the "softer" programs to develop alternative crops, reform the
judiciary and build a better infrastructure.

That has created problems for Colombia's president, Andr s Pastrana, said
Michael Shifter, a Colombia expert at the Inter-American Dialogue, a forum
for leaders of the hemisphere.

"He's being pressured by the U.S. on one side and his Latin American
colleagues are backing away from him," Mr. Shifter said. "They see him as
tainted by the U.S. military anti-drug package."

Mr. Pastrana faces a daunting string of tasks: fight a war against two
drug-rich rebel groups; improve the human rights record of the nation's
security forces; battle drug cartels; cope with a troubled economy; and
pursue a viable peace agreement.

Mr. Pastrana will need sustained international support, warned Bernard
Aronson, who was an assistant secretary of state for Latin America under
President Bush. "The Colombian wars," he said, "have to be approached with
the same level of regional and international engagement we saw in Central
America, Kosovo, Northern Ireland and the Mideast."