U.S.-BACKED DRUG WAR WORRIES COLOMBIA'S NEIGHBORS

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Latin American leaders fear that the White House's
drug czar is all too right in his expectations for an impending U.S.-backed
anti-drug offensive in Colombia: heavy fighting, casualties -- and refugees
flooding over the region's remote, often lawless borders.

In Bogota, Colombia's capital, on Nov. 20, U.S. drug chief Barry McCaffrey
stressed that Washington was providing $180 million in aid to Colombia's
neighbors to deal with those threats. U.S. officials are promising even
more aid.

The news came as a surprise to Venezuela, which like several South American
nations has yet to be convinced that Plan Colombia can work.

"We didn't know a word about the possibility of getting aid from the U.S.
government to fight the threat of refugees, increasing violence and drug
production moving into our territory," Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jose
Vicente Rangel said.

"That's one of the problems with it. There is no direct or reliable
information regarding the plan, and comments such as McCaffrey's just
create more confusion."

His concerns are shared by many in the region.

Brazil has boosted troop strength along its 1,020-mile jungle border with
Colombia. Hundreds of refugees have fled rebel violence into Ecuador.
Panamanian border towns have been raided by Colombian rebels. Peru fears
the conflict will spread into its northern Amazon territory. Venezuelan
cattlemen and businessmen are abducted by Colombian rebels for ransom.

The dimensions of Colombia's 36-year-old conflict are growing even before
the military element of Plan Colombia kicks into high gear next year.

Under the plan, U.S.-trained troops using U.S.-made helicopters will try to
overrun rebel-held areas producing cocaine and heroin. Planes would then
spray drug-yielding crops with herbicide.

McCaffrey and other U.S. officials say the Colombian government needs help
to fight drug trafficking, which earns the country's rebels and rightist
paramilitaries an estimated $1 billion a year.

And they insist Plan Colombia won't become another Vietnam.

On Dec. 5, Gen. Peter Pace, chief of the U.S. Southern Command, met with
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to lobby for support for the plan and to
offer anti-drug aid. Venezuelan and U.S. officials closely cooperate on
drugs, although Venezuela bans U.S. overflights for sovereignty reasons.

Washington's arguments have yet to win over Chavez and others among
Colombia's neighbors, who fear the conflict -- just like Vietnam -- will
indeed spill over.

Ecuador says more than 1,000 Colombians have crossed the border to flee
violence, and it fears guerrillas and drug traffickers may follow,
especially in the wild border region of Sucumbios. The U.S. government,
which is conducting drug surveillance flights from Ecuador, is seeking $35
million in aid for Ecuador to handle refugees.

Venezuela, which shares a 1,500-mile border with Colombia, has been the
harshest critic of Plan Colombia's military aspect.

Chavez has warned the conflict could spread throughout the region. He also
has been accused by critics of maintaining ties with Colombia's rebels, a
charge he emphatically denies.

His opposition to Plan Colombia and his offers to mediate in Colombia's
conflict have stirred criticism at home and abroad. On Nov. 24, Colombia
briefly recalled its ambassador to Venezuela after two Colombian guerrilla
leaders appeared on the floor of the Venezuelan congress.

The Institutional Military Front, a group of retired Venezuelan generals,
charged Chavez reduced troop presence along the western border with
Colombia -- resulting in a safe haven for rebels -- because of "his
ideological closeness with Colombian guerrilla groups." Chavez says sending
troops to the border would provoke both Colombia's rebels and its rightist
paramilitaries.

"The guerrillas are not going to peacefully allow cocaine producers to be
displaced," said Mario Ivan Carratu Molina, a retired Venezuelan vice
admiral who supports Plan Colombia.

Coca planters, meanwhile, already have moved some operations from Colombia
into Venezuela, said Mildred Camero, vice president of an Organization of
American States anti-drug panel.