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. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart