ECUADOR RELUCTANTLY JOINS U.S. WAR ON COCAINE

Only a short flight from the coca fields of Colombia, the latest front in
the U.S. drug war is being prepared.

Beneath the burning tropical sun at Manta air base, construction crews are
revamping a runway and barracks. U.S. military anti-drug surveillance
aircraft and crew are due to intensify their presence next year.

Across the border in the drug-rich Putumayo region, the United States is
financing the largest-ever aerial eradication effort of Colombia's coca
fields. Manta's role will be to close the airspace over southern Colombia by
improving U.S. radar coverage, supported in part by AWACS planes currently
flying out of Tampa's MacDill Air Force Base.

The Manta base, known as a Forward Operating Location, or FOL, is part of a
regional strategy to throttle the Colombian drug trade from all sides.

Still, many Ecuadorans criticize their government's decision to cede use of
a military base to the U.S. Air Force.

Though both the U.S. and Ecuadoran governments insist that Manta is not a
U.S. air base, there are growing concerns that U.S. operations out of
Ecuador will only further entangle this impoverished Andean nation in the
Colombian drug war.

"The agreement is just too unspecific," says Cesar Montufar of Andean
University in Quito. "Ecuador's real-time participation in the (Colombian)
conflict directly involves us in a war that isn't ours."

Colombia's other neighbors, Venezuela, Brazil and Panama, have also
expressed fears that they will be caught up in the conflict. The United
States has sought to allay those concerns by earmarking $169-million for
regional support to the Andean countries.

But Ecuador is already saying that may not be enough. In November, Foreign
Minister Heinz Moeller requested an additional $30-million in U.S. aid for
economic and social development projects. Only $8-million has been released
to date.

The government is also facing increasing pressure from local officials in
the border provinces of Sucumbios and Orellana, who have called for a strike
and roadblocks to protest the lack of development and infrastructure.

The agreement allowing the United States to use the Manta base was signed by
the government of President Jamil Mahuad in November 1999, just weeks before
he was ousted in a bloodless coup.

Rebuilding the airstrip and providing facilities for the 150 to 250 U.S.
military personnel who will staff the base once operations are in full swing
next year will require $61-million. The runway, which alone costs
$30-million to upgrade, will allow anti-narcotic aerial activities in
conjunction with similar installations in Aruba, Curacao and El Salvador.

P-3 and EP-3 turboprops are currently flying out of Manta, but once
improvements to the airstrip are complete in October, AWACS planes with
wide-range radars aimed at spotting the coca and poppy plantations that
proliferate in Colombia's deepest jungles will be able to take off and land.

Ecuador is already feeling spillover effects from Plan Colombia, the
U.S.-backed anti-drug offensive in Colombia. An estimated 7,000 Colombians
have crossed into Ecuadoran territory to Lago Agrio, 18 miles south of the
border, fleeing the violence and crop spraying operations. Almost a third
have requested refugee status.

Ecuadoran officials say guerrillas and drug traffickers have also begun
setting up operations in Ecuador's northern border region.

The remote and lawless area of jungle, forest and rivers provides ideal
refuge for those engaged in illegal activity. In the absence of any major
government presence, civilian or military, Colombians and Ecuadorans have
crisscrossed the border unmonitored for years.

The San Miguel River, which runs along part of the 370-mile border, is an
important artery for local commerce including precursor chemicals for drug
production and semi-processed cocaine paste.

Already this year, the Ecuadoran military has stumbled across two cocaine
processing plants near the San Miguel River.

Ecuadoran officials say they detected the first apparent cells of the Armed
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Ecuador, or FARE, last year. The group appears
to be modeled on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, that
country's 20,000-strong guerrilla army.

The FARE is reportedly made up of Colombian and Ecuadoran fighters, led by a
Colombian guerrilla leader known only as Alex. FARC leaders in Colombia deny
any connection to the group.

On Sunday an Ecuadoran government official was found killed along with his
daughter near the border town of Tumaco, on the Colombian side of the
border. Police say they were tortured and shot by suspected drug
traffickers.

Back in Manta, residents are aware of the risks the air base brings. But
with the country in the midst of political instability and economic
recession, they need jobs. Inflation topped 90 percent last year.

"I guess it's okay," said Miguel Parrales, a 32-year-old tuna fisherman from
Manta who supports a family of four on $200 a month. "The Americans will
rebuild the base and bring money into Manta, which we could definitely use."

For now the business community in Manta has embraced the advantages that a
refurbished airport will bring to their province. These include increased
capacity to export tuna, the construction of new hotels and the potential
improvement of the port. In addition, nearly all 300 construction workers at
the base are Ecuadoran.

But the rest of the country isn't so sure of the deal. A recent survey found
that 65 percent of Ecuadorans felt that granting the U.S. Air Force access
to Manta, even for 10 years, put Ecuador in a dangerous position.

Said Parrales: "The agreement involves Ecuador a lot, not just a bit, in
Plan Colombia."