Pubdate: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 Source: Reuters Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited. U.S. TO CLOSE PANAMA ANTI-DRUGS AIR BASE IN MAY PANAMA CITY, Jan 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force will move its Latin American counter-narcotics operations to Florida from Panama on May 1 in a step that could complicate anti-drug surveillance and intelligence gathering in the region, a senior U.S. military official said on Tuesday. "The counter-drug aircraft will complete their mission (in Panama) on May first ... and will be relocated to McDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. After that there will be no aircraft at all at Howard Air Force Base (in Panama)," Air Force Col. Greg Trebon told reporters. "The difficulty from Florida is the challenge of distance ... It will be much more difficult for all of us to deal with narcotraffickers coming out of Colombia, Peru, and the nations of the Andean ridge," Trebon added. In September, the United States and Panama abandoned more than two years of negotiations to extend the Dec. 31, 1999 deadline for the U.S. military to remove all troops from Panama and hand over control of the canal to the Panamanian government as stipulated in the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaty. The two countries had been negotiating to turn Howard Air Force Base - -- located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal -- into an anti-drugs centre with intelligence-gathering facilities, air power and 2,000 U.S. troops, plus soldiers from other countries. In July, however, Washington said the talks reached an impasse when Panama would not offer more than a possibly renewable contract for four years for the counter-narcotics centre. The United States has since looked to other locations in the region -- such as Florida, Puerto Rico and several other Latin American countries -- to house the centre. Panama, which is located at the hub of two oceans and two continents, has been home to the U.S. military since it seceded from Colombia in 1903. - --- MAP posted-by: Patrick Henry