Pubdate: Thu, 15 Mar 2001
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2001 The Miami Herald
Contact:  One Herald Plaza, Miami FL 33132-1693
Fax: (305) 376-8950
Website: http://www.herald.com/
Forum: http://krwebx.infi.net/webxmulti/cgi-bin/WebX?mherald
Author: Jim Wyss

U.S. READY TO FIX BASE IN ECUADOR

MANTA, Ecuador -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will shut down the local 
airport in a few days for a $65.3 million overhaul, deepening an 
increasingly bitter debate about Ecuador's role in the regional fight 
against drug trafficking.

Officially, the government says the strip is little more than a "filling 
station" for the various spy aircraft used by the Pentagon to monitor 
clandestine drug flights around the Andes, but many here see it as a threat 
to national sovereignty that could drag Ecuador deeper into the region's 
drug wars.

"The base represents a provocation and involves us in a problem that's not 
ours," said Vice President Antonio Posso, the second-ranking congressional 
official, whose left-leaning Pachakutik party attacked the Manta operation 
in court.

"I agree that we need to do our part to control drug trafficking, but there 
is the fear that the base will be used against the [Colombian] guerrillas," 
Posso said. "We may already be seeing reprisals."

Although the Manta agreement clearly forbids the base from being used for 
anything but drug surveillance, that hasn't kept Colombia's largest 
guerrilla force -- the leftist FARC -- from calling it a "declaration of war."

And though few blame the Manta operations, there are indications that 
Colombia's guerrillas are increasing operations in this small Andean nation 
of 12.5 million.

The United States has been using the Manta airport to refuel and maintain a 
handful of P3 and C130 airplanes. Painted innocuous flat-gray, the craft 
are jammed full of state-of-the art surveillance gear allowing them to 
monitor road, sea and airways for the drug runners that ship an estimated 
587 metric tons of cocaine out of the region per year -- mainly from Colombia.

When the refurbished and extended strip reopens in October, it will be able 
to handle heavier and more powerful AWACS surveillance planes and the 
KC-135s that can refuel them in midair. Barracks for the 250 servicemen 
needed to operate and service the craft will also be built.

The planes, along with others based in the Caribbean and El Salvador, are 
the drug war's eyes. When they spot suspicious activity they relay messages 
through a base in Key West to the countries involved. It's up to each 
nation's military to make a stop or seizure.

For decades Ecuador has largely managed to avoid the drug and guerrilla 
troubles of its neighbors. Relying on little more than a policy of 
blind-eye neutrality, both left- and right-wing guerrilla groups regularly 
cross the border but tread lightly -- valuing Ecuador as a rear-supply and 
resting spot.

But as the country plays a more active role in the war on drugs, that could 
change, admitted the base's Ecuadorean commander, Col. Rodrigo Bohorques.

"The agreement we signed is to fight narco-trafficking and you can't fight 
passively," he said.

"There is the possibility that people or groups who believe they are 
affected by the base could try to make us feel vulnerable to damage."

According to U.S. Ambassador Gwen Clare, the operations are strictly for 
surveillance of the drug trade and the base will help keep problems at bay.

"I tell [opponents] we're trying to attack a problem on your frontier that 
is threatening your stability," she said.

But more and more Ecuadoreans seem to disagree.

"Letting the U.S. use the airport is like letting one neighbor use your 
patio to spy on another neighbor's house," said Miguel Moran, the head of 
the Manta-based "Tohalli" organization that opposes the agreement.

"We're getting involved in Colombia's problems more and more -- the Manta 
base is proof of that."

A study by the local CEDATOS polling firm found 65 percent of the 
population thought the Manta agreement posed a threat to the country. Those 
fears are fueled by daily reports of increased spillover from Colombia.

Cocaine labs have been found on this side of the border, the army has 
engaged in sporadic firefights with irregular troops, and kidnappers are 
beginning to set up shop here.
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MAP posted-by: Beth