Pubdate: Fri, 20 Oct 2000
Source: Reuters
Copyright: 2000 Reuters Limited.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/latin.htm Latin America clippings

ECUADOR TO ASK FOR AID TO FIGHT BORDER DRUG TRADE

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Concerned about spillover from neighboring 
Colombia's war on drugs, Ecuador wants the international community to help 
pay for a protection zone along its border, Foreign Minister Heinz Moeller 
said on Friday.

At a series of meetings with U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno (news - web 
sites), drug policy director Barry McCaffrey and U.S. lawmakers, Moeller 
said Ecuador needed $250 to $300 million over the next two to three years 
to prevent the spread of coca plantations into Ecuador.

Ecuador and Colombia's other neighbors have said Bogota's $7.5 million, 
U.S.-backed Plan Colombia -- targeting drug traffickers and guerrillas 
allegedly financed by drug money -- will send refugees, drug traffickers 
and rebels over their borders.

Ecuador shares a 370-mile frontier with Colombia, part of which is along 
Colombia's rebel-controlled, drug-producing Putumayo region.

Ecuador's plan focuses on economic and social programs, new community 
centers, health centers, new roads for farmers, the alternative 
agricultural, ecological sanctuaries and the creation of a police and 
military border patrol.

The government said it hopes European lenders will forgive part of its 
foreign debt, saying it instead will use the money to fund development 
programs along the border.

Last month Ecuador signed a debt restructuring agreement with members of 
the Paris Club, a group of creditor nations that includes the United States.

Ecuador has given U.S. anti-narcotics planes access to its Manta air and 
naval base in the northern part of the country, and hopes the United States 
will reciprocate with anti-drug aid.

Moeller, on a six-day visit to Washington, will also meet with U.S. 
Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering, a staunch advocate for U.S. 
support for Plan Colombia, other legislators and Pentagon (news - web 
sites) officials. 
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