Colombia Official Quitting Over Blockade, Radio Says

As U.S. warships today steamed toward international waters off Colombia to stem the flow of drugs, intense opposition stirred here over the U.S. naval action and the foreign minister said he is resigning over the affair.

Independent Radio Caracol said Foreign Minister Julio Londono Paredes is resigning because he did not have full government backing when he strongly criticized Washington’s decision to send warships and the U.S. invasion of Panama.

Radio Caracol said Londono may be succeeded by Victor Mosquera Chados, Colombia’s ambassador to the United States, or by Fernando Rey, Colombia’s ambassador to France.

There was no immediate official comment on the report, which said Londono would meet with President Virgilio Barco Vargas today to discuss the resignation.

The ships made major headlines in Colombian newspapers today, which called the U.S. fleet “unstoppable.” Londono told reporters Sunday that “the United States will be responsible for any action against international law.”

U.S. officials said today that Washington wanted to go ahead with plans to station five warships about 100 miles off Colombia despite the rising protests in Bogota.

But the State Department said no decision had been made and Washington would not take the action without the concurrence of the Colombian government.

U.S. defense officials said the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy and the nuclear-powered cruiser Virginia left Norfolk, Va., on Thursday and E-2C radar planes on the carrier could monitor traffic out of Colombia.

Sensitized by the Dec. 20 U.S. invasion of Panama--a Colombian province until the beginning of the century--Colombians have reacted bitterly against Washington.

Hernando Duran Dussan, presidential candidate from the ruling Liberal Party, said Colombia did not want foreign patrols to control cocaine smuggling.

The two major opposition parties, the Social Conservative and Patriotic Union parties, called the U.S. naval operations a threat to Colombian sovereignty.

The White House has emphatically rejected the term “blockade” used by some Colombians.