Pubdate: Wed, 16 Aug 2000
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2000 Houston Chronicle
Contact:  Viewpoints Editor, P.O. Box 4260 Houston, Texas 77210-4260
Fax: (713) 220-3575
Website: http://www.chron.com/
Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Page: 21A

BRAZIL WON'T LEND SUPPORT TO COLOMBIA'S DRUG WAR

BRASILIA, Brazil -- U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright won support 
from Brazil Tuesday for strengthening the region's fragile democracies, but 
failed to enlist it behind a $1.3 billion fight against Colombian drug 
traffickers.

Albright, kicking off a tour of five South American countries, said her 
one-day visit to Brazil showed bilateral relations were the best in 50 
years and differences in opinion "were far fewer than the areas of agreement."

But Brazil's Foreign Minister, Luiz Felipe Lampreia, stressed the 
"autonomy" of Latin America's largest country, and said it would not 
participate in the Washington campaign to help battle Colombian drug 
traffickers.

"We have no intention of participating in any common international action," 
Lampreia said.

Brazil, which shares a long Amazon jungle border with Colombia, fears a 
massive military assault could drag it into the country's bloody civil war 
or send droves of refugees into Brazil.
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