Candidates Meet Colombian Rebels
By SUSANNAH A. NESMITH
Associated Press Writer
LOS POZOS, Colombia (AP) — Four presidential candidates traveled
into guerrilla territory to threaten, cajole and beg government and rebel
negotiators to end the country's 38-year-civil war.
Rebel leaders responded Thursday with their usual demands that
the government address poverty, unemployment and illegal right-wing
paramilitaries, and the United States withdraw its military personnel.
A top rebel commander insisted that ending the talks — as the
leading presidential candidate has threatened to do — would lead to more
bloodshed.
``Don't dream in Colombia about the guerrillas defeated on the
battlefield,'' Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia commander Andres
Paris
warned during the five-hour, nationally televised forum. ``That
will never happen. Never.''
Presidential candidate Horacio Serpa responded: ``You will not take over the country with guns.''
The civil war — which claims up to 3,500 lives a year — has become
the principal issue in the campaign for the May presidential elections.
The war
pits the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and
a smaller rebel group against an outlawed paramilitary group and the military.
Many Colombians are fed up with the 3-year-old peace talks because they have yielded nothing except more violence.
In a Gallup poll released Thursday, 53 percent supported Alvaro
Uribe, a hard-line candidate who has vowed to exact concessions from the
rebels
or end the process.
Serpa was second with 24 percent. He rejected all-out war as an option.
The poll, published in Medellin's El Colombiano newspaper, had a 2 percent margin of error.
Uribe, who did not attend the forum, said Thursday he would send
troops into a vast rebel safe haven the day after taking office if rebels
don't
agree to an immediate cease-fire, as one government negotiator
suggested Thursday.
President Andres Pastrana granted the Switzerland-sized region
in southern Colombia to the FARC three years ago to lure them to the negotiating
table.
The forum was held under a tin-roofed shelter in this mountainous jungle region dotted with cattle ranches and small farms.
Five rebel leaders attended in full battle gear, carrying automatic
rifles and wearing camouflage uniforms. Among other things, they demanded
an
end to the extradition of Colombians to face criminal charges
abroad.
All four candidates agreed with rebel stances concerning poverty,
unemployment and the paramilitaries. Each promised, if elected, to tackle
the
country's social inequality.
Candidate Ingrid Betancur urged the government to meet rebel demands to subsidize the unemployed, about 16 percent of the work force.
Then she turned to the guerrillas and asked, ``What were you thinking
when you decided to join the guerrillas? Did you think the guerrillas would
be involved in cocaine?''
The guerrillas tax drug profits to finance their fight.
The $1.3 billion aid package from the United States includes money
for equipment to fight drug trafficking. A key rebel demand in the talks
is the
withdrawal of all U.S. military personnel, which the guerrillas
consider thinly veiled intervention in the civil war.
Paris showed off an M-16 rifle and rocket launcher that he said
was provided to the Colombian military in that aid package. He didn't say
how the
rebels obtained the weapon.
The prospect of Uribe in the presidency convinced some here that
the peace process is at a crucial point and there is little time left to
make
progress.
``We've spent three years talking about peace, in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening, peace, peace, peace,'' Serpa said.
``And every day, in the morning, afternoon and evening, we have
also had more kidnappings, more attacks, more violations.''