Posted on 04/18/2002 1:51:14 PM PDT by Dallas
WASHINGTON --
Al-Qaida and Middle East terrorists are operating near Ecuador's borders with Peru and Colombia, and Ecuador needs U.S. help to combat them, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said Thursday.
"We have got in the tri-border area a bit of a problem with al-Qaida itself and some Hezbollah elements," he told the House Appropriations' foreign operations subcommittee. "We do need cooperation."
In addition, U.S. efforts to help Colombia combat drug traffickers -- and perhaps insurgents -- might hurt Ecuador if the traffickers and rebels seek to escape there, he said.
President Bush's request for $27 billion in emergency spending this year names Ecuador as one of 19 countries in urgent need of foreign military financing for the war on terrorism. The countries would share $372.5 million, which would be used "immediately to strengthen the forces of our friends and allies in the fight against terrorism, by providing vitally needed equipment and training," the request says.
Rep. Sonny Callahan, R-Ala., was concerned about Ecuador's decision to prohibit the United States from using the Manta air base to carry out the war on terrorism. The United States has used the base for two years to fight drug trafficking.
Ecuador's foreign relations minister, Heinz Moeller, said in February that the government would not let the United States use the base for anti-terror activities.
Callahan, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, suggested Ecuador should be required to reverse that position before it gets any aid.
The United States spent millions of dollars to repair the base in western Ecuador, "and yet they're telling us they're not going to allow us to use it for anything that has to do with Operation Enduring Freedom," Callahan said.
Armitage said he was not aware of the air base problem.
In October 1999, Ecuador signed an agreement letting the U.S. military use the Manta airfield to make surveillance flights over drug-producing regions in Central and South America.
That agreement and the $7.5 billion, six-year Plan Colombia anti-drug effort have raised fear among Ecuadoreans that their country will become a staging ground for U.S. military intervention in Colombia. That, they worry, could spark retaliation by guerrilla and paramilitary groups who take payments to protect the drug trade.
Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press
How can we defeat the terrorists abroad if we cannot defeat their enablers here?
Oil, drugs and money laundering... the OTHER tools in this warfare.
Talk about blending in......geeze
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***U.S. Embassy sources said the move came as a surprise. In a statement, the embassy said ``we regret this decision as it will make it difficult to carry on our long-standing relationship with the Venezuelan government's military.'' The action came on the eve of President Fidel Castro's two-day visit to southwestern Venezuela.
The United States is the biggest importer of Venezuelan oil, and the two countries cooperate closely on counter-narcotics efforts. But President Hugo Chavez vocally challenges what he describes as U.S. political and economy dominance abroad. The left-leaning nationalist criticizes the U.S. embargo on communist Cuba and the U.N. embargo on Iraq.
In 1999 citing national sovereignty, Chavez refused to allow U.S. anti-narcotic planes to fly over Venezuelan airspace. The United States complained then that the decision hurt efforts to curb drug trafficking but has since insisted that cooperation between the two countries is strong. ***
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