U.S. MILITARY PLANS DRUG WAR BUILDUP

The United States will expand its military presence in South America this
fall when a major anti-drug airborne surveillance facility begins operating
at the coastal airport of Manta, Ecuador, U.S. officials said.

The buildup will be the first in Latin America since U.S. military bases
closed in Panama in 1999 and will intensify American operations in the war
against the drug trade centered in Colombia, the world´s largest cocaine
producer.

Arms-control advocates said yesterday that Ecuador would become a new
Honduras, the hub of U.S. military operations during the Central American
wars of the 1980s.

When the runway is lengthened by the end of September at the Ecuadoran air
force base, two large Airborne Warning and Control System planes and two
KC-135 refueling aircraft will be able to land there simultaneously if need be.