COVERDELL SAYS PANAMA MAY ACCEPT COUNTERDRUG FLIGHTS

WASHINGTON - Sen. Paul Coverdell said Friday he believes the
government about to take office in Panama might allow U.S. counterdrug
surveillance flights even though Panama Canal treaties require
withdrawal of all U.S. forces by the end of the year.

"I think they are perfectly willing to consider it," Coverdell,
chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Western
Hemisphere affairs, said in a conference call with reporters after a
visit to Panama.

Coverdell, R-Ga., discussed the question with Panama's president-elect
Mireya Moscoso, who takes office Sept. 1. He also visited Colombia.

U.S. counternarcotics surveillance flights from Howard Air Force Base
in Panama were a key element of American efforts to curb the flow of
cocaine and heroin from South America.

The base was shut down in May as part of a phased withdrawal of U.S.
forces from Panama. When Panama assumes control of the canal Dec. 31,
all U.S. forces must be gone.

To fill the void left by the loss of Howard, surveillance flights are
being flown from Aruba and Curacao, with a coastal base in Ecuador
scheduled to perform a similar role in the future.

Coverdell said U.S. operations from these locations would continue
even if a deal is reached with Panama. Any such arrangement would not
happen quickly, Coverdell indicated, because serious negotiations are
not under way.

Coverdell said the United States, because of its resources, and
Panama, because of location on the Colombian border, have a "special
responsibility" to work together to combat drug flows.

The United States and Panama tried for two years to negotiate a
continued U.S. counternarcotics presence under a multinational
umbrella. The talks ended in failure.

In Colombia, Coverdell said he came away with a sense of optimism that
police, military and other components of counternarcotics operations
are showing the necessary resolve to deal with the drug problem.

"They are not shrinking from it," he said. "They are massing their
capacity to take it on."

At the same time, Coverdell said he does not dispute the
characterization by White House counterdrug chief Barry McCaffrey that
an emergency situation exists in Colombia, resulting partly from an
explosion in coca cultivation.