Pubdate: Fri, 14 May 1999 Source: Associated Press Copyright: 1999 Associated Press Author: Steven Gutkin, Associated Press Writer US SEEKS VENEZUELA BACKING ON DRUGS CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) Venezuela is expressing reservations about a U.S. request to use its airspace for anti-narcotics flights from three new staging centers being set up in Ecuador and the Dutch islands of Curacao and Aruba, an official confirmed Friday. "The government will thoroughly evaluate the request to fly over Venezuelan territory toward Colombia," Venezuelan Interior Minister Luis Miquelena told The Associated Press Friday. He added that his government was concerned because the United States "not only has surveillance planes in the Curacao and Aruba bases, but also F-16s, which are war planes." The request is part of the Clinton administration's effort to compensate for the U.S. withdrawal from the Howard Air Force Base in Panama Canal Zone, which until May 1 had been used for such reconnaissance flights. U.S. officials admitted earlier this month that the withdrawal has weakened anti-drug efforts in Latin America. The Clinton administration came under heavy criticism in Congress for what Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., called the administration's "disjointed and halfhearted response to the impending withdrawal of U.S. forces from Panama." Ana Maria Salazar, the Pentagon's deputy assistant secretary for drug enforcement policy, acknowledged recently that surveillance coverage of the Caribbean region was now only half of what it was two years ago. Using Venezuelan airspace would presumably be necessary under the latest plan because of the South American nation's proximity to both Curacao and Aruba. "The U.S. has invited the Venezuelan Air Force to station personnel in Aruba and Curacao to ride any U.S. aircraft that overflies Venezuelan territory and to share fully any information gathered on narcotics trafficking," said a statement Thursday from U.S. State Department. Venezuela's interior minister suggested Friday that such cooperation may not occur. "This is a very difficult problem for us because Venezuelans are very sensitive about sovereignty," Miquelena said. The U.S. request has prompted alarmist headlines in the Venezuelan press. To further its goal of stemming the flow of cocaine from Colombia, the United States signed interim agreements with both Ecuador and the Netherlands. The agreement with Ecuador on use of an airfield in Manta ends in September, and the agreement with the Netherlands expires next April. According to Salazar, the United States had been flying some 2,000 anti-drug missions a year out of the Canal Zone, which will be turned over to the Panamanian government on Dec. 31, 1999, under the terms of the treaty negotiated by the Carter administration in 1977. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D