CARTAGENA Colombia AP U.S. military counternarcotics operations currently based in Panama will be relocated to Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the region when Washington completes its troop pullout from Panama next year a senior U.S. commander said Tuesday. ``In a certain sense you can look at Puerto Rico as a partial replacement for Panama'' said Marine Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm chief of the U.S. Southern Command with responsibility for Latin America during a meeting of regional defense ministers. Negotiations to maintain a U.S. troop presence for anti-narcotics purposes in Panama were scuttled in September setting U.S. officials on a search for alternatives. All U.S. troops must quit the country by Dec. 31 1999 when the Panama canal reverts to Panamanian control. Panama was considered the ideal base for drug interdiction due to its central location along shipment routes between Andean cocaine- and heroin-producing countries and the United States. Currently U.S. AWACs radar planes track drug flights through the region from Howard Air Force Base in Panama. The facility will be closed in May. ``In terms of geography Puerto Rico is not where Panama is'' said Wilhem who said the change in plans could curtail operations for a time but would still satisfy U.S. counternarcotics needs ``to a reasonable extent.'' Wilhem did not reveal which other countries might be prepared to accept a U.S. presence saying only that they were in the southern Caribbean Central America and ``the Andean ridge'' which includes Colombia Bolivia Ecuador and Peru. He said the United States wants to reach agreements allowing access to existing airfields while avoiding a large U.S. troop buildup in a region highly sensitive to foreign intervention. APW19981201.0665.txt.body.html APW19981201.1384.txt.body.html