Presidents to confer over isolating rebels - Colombian seeks backing of Brazil - Where's Hugo? *** RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- The presidents of Colombia and Brazil will meet today under heavy U.S. pressure to isolate the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the region's cocaine-financed guerrilla movement that is labeled a terrorist organization by the Bush administration. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe wants Brazil's support for Plan Colombia, a joint U.S.-Colombian military effort to quash cocaine trafficking and the guerrilla groups funded by cocaine.
For Brazil, Latin America's largest and most influential nation, that would mean an end to years of neutrality and an unpopular yielding to Washington's will. Brazilians are worried about cocaine trafficking in their country, however, and a leader of the FARC -- the guerrilla's group's initials in Spanish -- is alleged to have protected Brazil's top trafficker until the trafficker was captured in April 2001. Uncomfortable with a growing U.S. presence next door in Colombia, Brazil thus far has balked at branding the FARC a terrorist organization. ***
Perils face US rescue in Colombia ***But the rescue of the priests is the exception to the rule in the kidnapping capital of the world. In 2001, there were 3,041 kidnap victims in Colombia, only 23 percent of whom were rescued. The FARC has announced that it wants to trade the Americans, along with about 40 Colombian police and soldiers and 20 high-profile Colombian politicians, for guerrilla prisoners in Colombian jails. But the US has said it will not negotiate and both governments have vowed the rescue efforts will continue.***