U.S. READY TO FIX BASE IN ECUADOR

MANTA, Ecuador -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will shut down the local
airport in a few days for a $65.3 million overhaul, deepening an
increasingly bitter debate about Ecuador's role in the regional fight
against drug trafficking.

Officially, the government says the strip is little more than a "filling
station" for the various spy aircraft used by the Pentagon to monitor
clandestine drug flights around the Andes, but many here see it as a threat
to national sovereignty that could drag Ecuador deeper into the region's
drug wars.

"The base represents a provocation and involves us in a problem that's not
ours," said Vice President Antonio Posso, the second-ranking congressional
official, whose left-leaning Pachakutik party attacked the Manta operation
in court.

"I agree that we need to do our part to control drug trafficking, but there
is the fear that the base will be used against the [Colombian] guerrillas,"
Posso said. "We may already be seeing reprisals."

Although the Manta agreement clearly forbids the base from being used for
anything but drug surveillance, that hasn't kept Colombia's largest
guerrilla force -- the leftist FARC -- from calling it a "declaration of war."

And though few blame the Manta operations, there are indications that
Colombia's guerrillas are increasing operations in this small Andean nation
of 12.5 million.

The United States has been using the Manta airport to refuel and maintain a
handful of P3 and C130 airplanes. Painted innocuous flat-gray, the craft
are jammed full of state-of-the art surveillance gear allowing them to
monitor road, sea and airways for the drug runners that ship an estimated
587 metric tons of cocaine out of the region per year -- mainly from Colombia.

When the refurbished and extended strip reopens in October, it will be able
to handle heavier and more powerful AWACS surveillance planes and the
KC-135s that can refuel them in midair. Barracks for the 250 servicemen
needed to operate and service the craft will also be built.

The planes, along with others based in the Caribbean and El Salvador, are
the drug war's eyes. When they spot suspicious activity they relay messages
through a base in Key West to the countries involved. It's up to each
nation's military to make a stop or seizure.

For decades Ecuador has largely managed to avoid the drug and guerrilla
troubles of its neighbors. Relying on little more than a policy of
blind-eye neutrality, both left- and right-wing guerrilla groups regularly
cross the border but tread lightly -- valuing Ecuador as a rear-supply and
resting spot.

But as the country plays a more active role in the war on drugs, that could
change, admitted the base's Ecuadorean commander, Col. Rodrigo Bohorques.

"The agreement we signed is to fight narco-trafficking and you can't fight
passively," he said.

"There is the possibility that people or groups who believe they are
affected by the base could try to make us feel vulnerable to damage."

According to U.S. Ambassador Gwen Clare, the operations are strictly for
surveillance of the drug trade and the base will help keep problems at bay.

"I tell [opponents] we're trying to attack a problem on your frontier that
is threatening your stability," she said.

But more and more Ecuadoreans seem to disagree.

"Letting the U.S. use the airport is like letting one neighbor use your
patio to spy on another neighbor's house," said Miguel Moran, the head of
the Manta-based "Tohalli" organization that opposes the agreement.

"We're getting involved in Colombia's problems more and more -- the Manta
base is proof of that."

A study by the local CEDATOS polling firm found 65 percent of the
population thought the Manta agreement posed a threat to the country. Those
fears are fueled by daily reports of increased spillover from Colombia.

Cocaine labs have been found on this side of the border, the army has
engaged in sporadic firefights with irregular troops, and kidnappers are
beginning to set up shop here.