BRAZIL OFFICIAL: US MAY 'OCCUPY' COLOMBIA, AMAZON AREA

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)--Latin American countries must join together in
efforts to help Colombia fight guerrillas and drug trafficking,
otherwise the U.S. will "occupy" the neighboring country and never
leave it, a top Brazilian policy-maker was quoted as saying.

"If the U.S. occupies Colombia, they will occupy the Amazon region,"
presidential Chief of Staff Jose Dirceu said at a meeting Sunday,
according to Rio de Janeiro's daily O Globo.

Dirceu, said to be the most powerful man in Brazil's leftist
government after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, spoke before
leaders of the 4th annual meeting of the Ibero-American Forum, in
Campos de Jordao, a resort 80 miles from Sao Paulo.

The Ibero-American Forum is a non-governmental organization that
annually gathers leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal. Among
attendants this year were former Uruguayan president Luis Maria
Sanguinetti, former Spanish Primer Minister Felipe Gonzalez, Mexican
industrialist Carlos Slim, Venezuelan media magnate Gustavo Cisneros,
and diplomats from Argentina and Mexico.

Dirceu spoke from notes and the full text of his speech wasn't
immediately available, his office told Associated Press.

Brazil has opposed the military aspects of the U.S.-sponsored Colombia
Plan to fight drug trafficking and guerillas in the neighboring
country. But it was the first time that a high official mentioned the
possibility of an "occupation" of Colombia and of the Amazon region.

The Colombian Ambassador, Jose Henrique Garavito, said Monday the
remarks where "just a hypotheses. I couldn't comment on them."

"But I hope it won't become a reality," he told the AP in a telephone
interview from Brasilia, the capital. The diplomat stressed that both
Brazil and Colombia have a "zero tolerance" attitude toward terrorism
and narcotrafficking.

Most of the Amazon region is in Brazil. Fears that the sparsely
populated region and porous borders would make Brazil a haven for both
drug traffickers and guerillas have led the Brazilian army to steadily
increase its force in the Amazon.

Dirceu was talking about security in the region and the U.S.