COLOMBIA NEIGHBORS FEAR DRUG WAR FALLOUT

BOGOTA, Colombia — On the eve of President Clinton's visit to Colombia,
neighboring countries are growing increasingly worried about a planned
U.S.-backed drug war — and some are even preparing for a possible spillover
by sending troops to the borders.

The offensive — to be carried out by Colombian soldiers trained by Green
Berets and other U.S. special forces — is expected to displace thousands of
people.

The rebels, who earn millions of dollars from a drug-protection racket, have
vowed to fight the Colombian troops, who are to be deployed on U.S.-donated
combat helicopters. Eighty-three U.S. troops are currently training soldiers
from a new 1,000-member anti-narcotics battalion at a military base in
southern Colombia. A total of 3,000 Colombian soldiers are to be deployed in
the offensive, expected to begin next year.

Ecuador, which lies to the south of Colombia and is within sight of
Colombian cocaine-producing plantations, has doubled its border forces to
4,000 troops, the Ecuadorean Defense Ministry said.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has sent delegates to the Ecuador
border region and is considering building a camp to hold some 5,000
Colombian refugees.

On Colombia's northwestern frontier with Panama, fighting between rebels and
government troops has crossed the untamed border region in recent years, and
thousands of Colombian refugees have crossed into Panama.

Panamanian officials fear the situation will only get worse when the
anti-drug war heats up.

"Although we are not in the position to say whether or not this plan should
be carried out, I personally believe it would be better if it was not,"
Panamanian Interior Minister Winston Spadafora said Thursday.

Spadafora said he has requested aid from the United Nations to prepare for
spillover.

On Colombia's eastern border, Brazil has reportedly begun beefing up
security along its 960-mile frontier with Colombia, amid fears the anti-drug
offensive could send Colombian guerrillas fleeing into Brazil or prompt
coca-growers to move into its vast Amazon jungle.

Brazil is also worried that any defoliants used to combat Colombian drug
production could damage its rain forest, a Brazilian Foreign Ministry
official said Thursday in Sao Paulo.

Meanwhile, relations between Colombia and Venezuela, which borders
northeastern Colombia, have hit a sour note over the planned anti-drug
offensive and Colombian officials' accusations that the Venezuelan army has
been funneling weapons to Colombian rebels — allegations the Venezuelans
deny.

After Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jose Vicente Rangel said in a radio
interview last week that violence in Colombia threatened neighboring
countries, Colombian Foreign Minister Guillermo Fernandez shot back that
Rangel was showing "a lack of respect for Colombia."

Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori also warned last week the anti-drug
offensive could threaten regional stability.

Tensions and fears persist despite efforts to quell them by both Colombian
and U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and
Clinton's new envoy to Colombia, Anne Patterson.

Patterson has called the concerns "a little exaggerated," but said
Washington would do what it could to help remedy any problems.

Colombia has also sought to calm the fears, with Fernandez offering
assurances in an interview Friday that the government plans major social
programs in drug-producing areas to help people displaced by the fighting
and to discourage them from fleeing into neighboring countries.

Demand is growing in Colombia for officials to cool the situation.

"The Colombian conflict is becoming more of a concern for the security of
our five neighbors," the Bogota daily El Espectador noted in an editorial
Saturday. "It's not easy being the nucleus of a conflict, but if that is our
luck, we must learn to manage the situation."

Colombia's widening conflict is expected to be among the top agenda items at
the South American Presidents Summit, to be held in Brasilia on Thursday,
the day after Clinton's visit to Colombia. Clinton is not attending that
summit.

On Monday, three leading human rights groups criticized the Clinton
administration for aiding the Colombian military, saying President Andres
Pastrana's government has failed to meet any of the human rights criteria
set by Congress.

Clinton waived several of the conditions and released $1.3 billion in mostly
anti-drug aid for Colombia last week. The conditions were aimed at
overcoming military abuses and bringing human rights violators to justice.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Washington Office on Latin
America (WOLA) all assailed Clinton's decision.