Pubdate: Sun, 18 Feb 2007
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2007 The Miami Herald
Contact:  http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author: Jeanneth Valdivieso, AP
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

U.S. BASE WITH VITAL ROLE IN DRUG WAR FACING CLOSURE

As Anti-U.S. Sentiment Grows Stronger In Ecuador, A Small U.S. 
Coastal Base Crucial To The Drug War Faces Near-Certain Closure

MANTA, Ecuador - The U.S. military's lone outpost in South America is 
a modest affair -- some 220 Americans share space with a local air 
force wing and an international airport. They are allowed no more 
than eight planes at a time.

But these surveillance planes -- chiefly A-3 AWACs and P-3 Orions -- 
play a vital role in keeping Andean cocaine and heroin from reaching 
the United States. They are responsible for about 60 percent of drug 
interdiction in the eastern Pacific.

That matters little to newly inaugurated President Rafael Correa, 
whose rejection of a U.S. military presence in Ecuador reflects 
widespread resentment over Washington's foreign policy in a region 
where the Bush administration now has few reliable allies.

"We've said clearly that in 2009 the agreement will not be renewed 
because we believe that sovereignty consists of not having foreign 
soldiers on our home soil," Correa said recently.

Economic Boost

No matter that the planes intentionally avoid Ecuadorean airspace 
after takeoff, and that U.S. operations at Manta contribute some $7 
million a year to the local economy.

Many Ecuadoreans believe the United States is trying to draw them 
more deeply into the Colombian conflict spilling over their borders: 
Leftist rebels frequently cross into Ecuador, and tens of thousands 
of Colombian refugees crowd lawless border towns plagued by drug 
traffickers and child prostitution.

Although U.S. officials deny that Manta's planes spy on leftist 
rebels in Colombia, they do intercept drug flights and eavesdrop on 
radio communications there.

Deteriorating Ties

"There is a widespread feeling that Washington is carrying out an 
extensive, mostly security, anti-drug program with Colombia, with 
little regard for the severe consequences -- growing violence and 
refugees -- on Ecuador," said Michael Shifter, deputy director of the 
Interamerican Dialogue think tank in Washington.

The Bush administration's efforts to maintain the U.S. role as Latin 
America's No. 1 commercial and military partner have suffered badly 
with leftist presidents winning office from Venezuela to Bolivia and 
now Ecuador, where many resent Washington's tough bargaining for 
trade pacts that lock in preferential terms for U.S. industries and 
seem anything but "free."

"Washington tends to alternate between being indifferent, so 
distracted with more urgent priorities and, when it does pays 
attention, being overbearing." said Shifter.

Located on the coast some 160 miles southwest of the Ecuadorean 
capital of Quito, Manta is well situated for its mission. But the 
U.S. military, which got the Manta lease after it was forced to 
abandon Howard Air Base in Panama in 1999, would be wise to start 
looking elsewhere, according to Anna Gilmour, a Latin American 
analyst with Jane's Defense Information Group.

Colombia is not a good option -- U.S. troops based there would be at 
great risk of attack from the same leftist rebels Colombian President 
Alvaro Uribe is fighting with U.S. training, logistics and 
intelligence support.

Nor are its neighbors: Presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Alan 
Garcia of Peru and Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have shown no 
interest in basing U.S. military units on their soil.

Leftist Governments

The region's leftist governments have already turned away from U.S. 
defense contractors, going instead to Russia, France and Brazil for 
military hardware. Venezuela said last week it hopes to buy Russian 
anti-aircraft missiles to protect its oil industry.

Chavez, a stalwart ally of Cuban President Fidel Castro, has called 
the drug war "the excuse that imperialism obtained a few years ago to 
penetrate our countries, to oppress our peoples and to justify its 
military presence in Latin America."

Aid Reductions

The U.S. State Department has recommended eliminating all drug 
interdiction aid for Venezuela, which got $2.2 million in the current 
fiscal year, and slashing overall aid to Ecuador some 30 percent to 
$20 million.

With the exception of Colombia, drug interdiction funding cuts were 
proposed across the Andean region.

In mid-2006, the United States had just short of 2,000 active duty 
military personnel stationed in Latin American and Caribbean 
countries, more than half at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

In all, some 6,000 Department of Defense employees are assigned to 
the region, many of them in Texas and Florida, where their bosses are 
headquartered at the U.S. Southern Command.

That is a small sliver of the nearly 1.4 million U.S. troops deployed 
around the world, mostly in Europe and Asia.

But those 220 Americans in Manta have had an outsized impact against drugs.

In the 1990s, most drug smuggling from the region was by air. That 
later shifted to the high seas as the so-called air bridge was 
essentially shut down.

Thanks to the Manta-based U.S. interdiction efforts, more than 275 
tons of illegal drugs, mostly cocaine, were seized or intercepted 
last year, said Air Force Lt. Col. Javier Delucca, the base's U.S. 
administrator.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman