U.S. URGES COOPERATION IN CENTRAL AMERICA ON DISASTERS, CRIME

KEY BISCAYNE -- Creation of a regional peacekeeping force emerged
Wednesday as a key issue at a meeting of Central American defense and
security ministers on how to confront threats ranging from drug
trafficking to disease epidemics.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, host of the two-day meeting,
said Central America is no longer beset by endless civil wars and
political dictatorships that hampered the region for decades.

"I do remember when our region here was significantly more dangerous
than it is today," Rumsfeld told the group. "We are working more
closely together today than ever before."

Officials representing Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama are attending the meeting, along with
observers from Colombia and Mexico. The high-level session follows
U.S. ratification in August of the Central American Free Trade
Agreement aimed at strengthening economic ties to a region that is
home to 41 million people and has a total gross domestic product of
about $88 billion.

Guatemala's defense minister, Gen. Carlos Humberto Aldana, said
creation of the battalion-strength peacekeeping force would bring
greater economic security and political stability. He suggested that
it be ratified by treaty among the Central American nations and
include specific financial and personnel commitments from each.

"We want to focus on a universal soldier _ a soldier of peace,"
Aldana said. "This will undoubtedly be the right path to go down."

The force would be used for military peacekeeping missions but also
for such things as rapid response to natural disasters. The U.S.
military would not be directly involved but would have observer
status, according to Pentagon officials.

Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, chief of the Miami-based U.S. Southern
Command, said that questions about security and instability in
Central America have contributed to a reduction in foreign investment
from $100 billion to about $70 billion over a four-year period.

"Economic opportunities cannot exist in an environment so dangerous
it cannot attract foreign investment," Craddock said.

The peacekeeping unit is considered a high-profile example of the
integration Central American countries are seeking on a variety of
fronts. Problems that affect all the region's nations _ and
ultimately, the United States as well _ include drug trafficking,
human smuggling, illegal immigration, terrorism and threats from disease.

Costa Rica's security and police minister, Vincente Ramos, cited as
examples efforts to contain outbreaks of dengue fever and avian influenza.

"This is something that the whole world is focusing on," Ramos said.

Panama, meanwhile, is working to improve maritime security for the
thousands of vessels that move through the Panama Canal each year.
Panama's justice minister, Hector Bolivar Aleman, said his country
also has become a crossroads for digital communications and fiber
optics that can be tapped by the entire region to improve
intelligence and police work.

"We want to share this information," Aleman said.

Several officials also said Central American governments must work on
deep-seated problems of poverty that frequently lead people into
illegal activities such as drug smuggling.

Rumsfeld agreed that chronic poverty could derail economic and
political progress in the region and said that continued focus on
building democratic institutions and a free market system is the best
path to take.

"Money is power. It flees uncertainty. It flees instability," Rumsfeld said.