South America balking at terror war

S. America balking at terror war

By Bruce Finley
Denver Post Staff Writer

Quito, Ecuador - A U.S. push to expand the war on terrorism in partnership with Latin America is proving difficult.

Defense chiefs from Brazil, Argentina and Chile this week balked at mobilizing armed forces in that cause.

And from mothers on the street to well-connected activists in office suites, U.S. military overtures sparked suspicion.

The efforts U.S. officials propose are a veiled attempt "to consolidate control" over Ecuador's water and oil, said Gen. Rene Vargas, a former head of Ecuador's armed forces, an ex-congressman and now a political player.

"In Latin America, there are no terrorists - only hunger and unemployment and delinquents who turn to crime. What are we going to do, hit you with a banana?"

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a high- level pitch for concerted action Wednesday morning at a meeting here of defense ministers from 33 countries.

Latin American "terrorists, drug traffickers, hostage takers and criminal gangs form an anti-social combination that increasingly seeks to destabilize civil societies," Rumsfeld told his counterparts.

"These enemies often find shelter in border regions and areas beyond the effective reach of governments. ... They (seek) seams in our collective security arrangements that they can exploit. No one nation can meet these new challenges alone."

President Bush may weigh in when he visits Chile on Saturday for an economic summit and then Colombia, where U.S.-backed forces have battled drug-financed rebels in a 40- year civil war.

U.S. military planners say smugglers easily could move weapons or terrorists from Latin America into the United States. They say anti-Israel terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah have raised funds in South America. Lawless areas in Ecuador and elsewhere, they say, could give terrorists a base.

But as Rumsfeld pressed for nations to cooperate militarily, anti-U.S. sentiments simmered.

In Chile on Wednesday, students protested Bush's impending visit.

In Ecuador on Tuesday, hundreds of mothers and toddlers gathered, calling for more attention to children.

"They need health and school," said Rocio Naranjo, 30, a mother of three who tries to support them by selling lemons on the street.

Rally organizer Marco Guaman questioned U.S. terrorism warnings. "We don't believe in all this," he said. "The United States always uses us."

A cabbie driving away from the scene, 63-year-old Galo Perez, who has grandchildren in the United States, said Bush officials are pushing to broaden the terrorism war to "sell more weapons."

Latin American leaders assembled here - who receive growing amounts of U.S. military assistance - discussed emphasis and tactics, military versus diplomatic methods to combat terrorism.

"The only way to fight terrorism is to increase democracy," Brazilian Vice President Jose Alencar said in an interview. "The cause of terrorism is not just fundamentalism but misery and hunger. Developed countries must help less-developed countries."

He said Rumsfeld "agreed that some actions against social problems must be improved."

In a speech Wednesday, Alencar said arms trafficking, central to any global terrorist threat, will persist "if the highly armed powers do not take measures toward disarmament."

Chile's defense minister, Jaime Ravinet, said the United Nations "is the only forum with international legitimacy to act globally on security issues."

Chile and others opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Argentina's defense minister, Jose Pampurro, said police and military forces in his country will cooperate in information- sharing against terrorism, within the limits of laws that bar military involvement in civilian affairs.

Gen. Julio Hang, a member of Argentina's delegation, said that mobilizing forces against terrorism is not a top priority.

"Today, we are very good at taking care of our borders," Hang said. "Terrorism is a concern but not a top priority."

Fueling suspicions, Navy and Coast Guard vessels patrolling the eastern Pacific earlier this year sank at least eight Ecuadoran boats that U.S. officials said were involved in smuggling. Disputes over what happened have gone as high as the Ecuadorian presidency.

"Now, I can't work," said Manual Santana, 53, who contends his boat, blown up March 3 near the Galapagos Islands, carried "only fishermen." Human-rights workers advocating for those who lost boats say these incidents enraged many people.

Even U.S. humanitarian projects face suspicion.

Last year, military forces planned storage facilities for disaster relief supplies around the country in case one of Ecuador's many active volcanoes erupts. But charges that the facilities would be operating bases for U.S. military forces blocked construction.

U.S. officials say they are trying to be sensitive in pushing for a broader war on terrorism.

Flanked by palace soldiers wearing uniforms from the early 1800s - when liberation leader Simon Bolivar's forces fought Spanish rulers - Rumsfeld assured Ecuadorian journalists that "the role that Ecuador should play is the role that Ecuador decides is important."

Each country here "has a different perspective," said Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Rogelio Pardo-Maurer, the top Pentagon official for Western Hemisphere affairs. "You cannot tell any country how to do it."