From: Colombian Labor Monitor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Sun, 20 May 2001 13:55:05 -0500 (CDT)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: NPR: U.S. military presence in Paraguay questioned
=============================================
The US has stepped up its military presence
throughout South America, primarily in the
form of reconnaissance and training of local
militaries in the drug-producing Andean
states. The fact that the Americans now have
a large and lengthy military operation as far
south as Paraguay has set off alarm bells.
_____________ =============================================
NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO [U.S.]
www.npr.org
Friday, 18 May 2001
********************
* MORNING EDITION *
********************
U.S. military presence in Paraguay questioned
---------------------------------------------
Anchor: Alex Chadwick
Reporter: Martin Kaste
ALEX CHADWICK, host:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Alex Chadwick.
About 300 US soldiers and sailors and Air Force personnel have set up camp
in central Paraguay. It's part of a four-month training exercise known as
Guarani Springs, the largest sustained US military presence that region of
South America has seen in years. And it comes at a time of growing
American concern about Paraguay's connections with the drug war that's
raging in Colombia. NPR's Martin Kaste reports from Asuncion, Paraguay.
(Soundbite of muffled voices and dental equipment)
MARTIN KASTE reporting:
'We're from the US government and we're here to pull your teeth.' That's
essentially the message of Operation Guarani Springs, an Army/Navy/Air
Force task force that's operating here in central Paraguay. The Americans
have deployed military medical units to country schoolhouses such as this
one to offer free health care. The Paraguayan campasinos walk for miles
and line up by the hundreds for the service, and most of them are here to
have their decayed teeth removed. Hundreds of teeth per day are pulled,
the bloody remains tossed into a cardboard box on the floor, as a dentist
clad in camouflage wrestles four more front teeth from the mouth of a
13-year-old girl. Sergeant Bob Whalen, a nurse from St. Louis, says he's
amazed by the Paraguayan stoicism.
Sergeant BOB WHALEN: Strange people in these strange uniforms, coming in,
hanging over them, and they just look at you with their big brown eyes and
open their mouth and get, you know, the injection of local anesthetic and
they'll sit right there while you pull their teeth. And then just nod
their head, say 'thank you' and they'll get on their way.
KASTE: The Americans' presence here in this poor, isolated part of South
America has been very popular, at least with the locals. After all, this
is a charm offensive. These troops are here to build schools and country
clinics. But there have been some misgivings. Farmer Timotu Morel(ph) says
his neighbors can't help wondering what it is the Yankees are really up
to.
Mr. TIMOTU MOREL (Farmer): (Spanish spoken)
KASTE: 'People say they're giving us medications to make men no good with
women,' Morel says. His wife says it might be an American birth control
plan.
(Soundbite of laughter and muffled voices)
Mr. DONALD KERR (Public Affairs Officer): As far as rumors go, that's a
pretty minor one, which is good.
KASTE: It's public affairs officer Donald Kerr's job to quell fears like
this, some of which have made it into Paraguayan newspapers.
Mr. KERR: The biggest one that seems most unbelievable is the whole
espionage thing, you know, or I even heard when I first came here that we
were setting up a satellite site for the ballistic missile defense system.
So, you know, everything from that to, you know, helping out with drug
trafficking, or the prevention of the drug trafficking.
KASTE: But the idea that the Americans are here to keep tabs on drug
trafficking is more plausible than the rumors about impotence drugs. The
US has stepped up its military presence throughout South America,
primarily in the form of reconnaissance and training of local militaries
in the drug-producing Andean states. The fact that the Americans now have
a large and lengthy military operation as far south as Paraguay has set
off alarm bells. This is especially true in neighboring Brazil, which is
traditionally hostile to the sight of US military uniforms in South
America, a sensitivity that's heightened by the current American
anti-narcotics effort in Colombia.
(Soundbite of air conditioner)
KASTE: At the Americans' camp, mysterious antennas and off-limits
air-conditioned tents have done little to dampen local suspicions. This
site is located on the edge of the Chaco, Paraguay's unmonitored western
frontier, which is half the size of California and is a prime aerial
expressway for drugs and guns being smuggled between the Andies and
Brazil. Still, the US military insists that this camp is not part of the
anti-narcotics effort. Lieutenant Mike Radamacker works in the off-limit
communications tent. When asked whether he's in touch with US drug
enforcement agents, he answers this way.
Lieutenant MIKE RADAMACKER: No, none that I know of. We don't have daily
contact with anybody like that.
KASTE: While there's no direct evidence that this particular military
exercise is connected to the drug war, its mere presence apparently has
caused a reduction in the number of drug-smuggling flights across
Paraguayan territory. That's according to Colonel Ugo Ibara(ph), head of
Paraguay's anti-narcotics program. He says smugglers seem worried about
the possibility of being tracked by the American camp.
Colonel UGO IBARA (Anti-Narcotics Program): (Through Translator) People
have the impression, and I think it's justified, that an American
contingent comes well-equipped, and since they're using helicopters a lot
and traveling by air, people imagine they have the means to confront any
criminal element in that zone.
KASTE: But Ibara says the intimidation caused by the presence of a
temporary US military camp is not enough to rein in the drug smuggling
long term. He says Paraguay needs more US help.
Col. IBARA: (Through Translator) We are a country that's prone to the drug
traffickers' operations because they know we don't have the means
necessary to combat them efficiently. They seek out the countries with the
most modest means and there they find fertile ground.
KASTE: Over the past decade, the US has built an aggressive drug
interdiction system around the northern portion of South America, an
effort that made headlines last month when the Peruvian air force, working
with the CIA, shot down a plane carrying American missionaries, apparently
by mistake. But the southern flank of the drug-producing region is less
well protected. In fact, in Paraguay there isn't a single radar system,
not even at the international airport. Colonel Eliu Flores(ph) is a
Paraguayan officer with extensive anti-narcotics experience.
Colonel ELIU FLORES (Anti-Narcotics Officer): (Spanish spoken)
KASTE: 'I served in the Chaco region for many years,' Flores says, 'and
there's a lot of air traffic out there, narco traffickers.' Flores says
the drug planes fly through unchallenged using ranches as refueling
depots. This traffic used to attract little attention in Washington since
the cocaine was destined primarily for Brazil and Europe. But now there's
evidence that some of the Colombian cocaine moving through Paraguay is
being exported by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or
FARC, and that guns are being smuggled the other way. US diplomatic
sources say the embassy in Asuncion is now recommending that Paraguay be
included in the American anti-drugs offensive known as Plan Colombia, if
not in name, then at least with increased aid.
Still, the official US line on the current military presence in Paraguay
is that it has nothing to do with drug trafficking. But Paraguayan
political scientist Victor Jacinto Flercha(ph) says these exercises will
smooth the way for future US involvement, something he believes is
inevitable.
Mr. VICTOR JACINTO FLERCHA (Political Scientist): (Through Translator) As
a Paraguayan, I regret the fact that we're so incapable of running our
country that we're now subject to control from outside. I also recognize
that this Paraguayan failure has made the country dangerous to other
states and I regret that, too.
KASTE: The US is already stepping up other forms of anti-narcotics
assistance in Paraguay. The Drug Enforcement Agency recently doubled the
size of its office here, and US special forces now train Paraguayans in
anti-narcotics techniques. The Paraguayans say they'd also like to get a
new radar system from the Americans, but that request may fall on deaf
ears. There was once a sophisticated radar in the Chaco, but the
Paraguayan military gutted the system, presumably as a result of drug
traffickers' influence inside the ranks. US diplomatic sources say that
until Paraguayan authorities are deemed more trustworthy, building a new
radar is pointless. Martin Kaste, NPR News, Asuncion, Paraguay.
CHADWICK: It's 11 minutes before the hour.
Copyright 2001 NPR
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