BY JARED KOTLER
 Associated Press

 BOGOTA, Colombia -- Leftist guerrillas continued a running dialogue on the
 workings of international capitalism Friday -- this time with the chairman emeritus
 of America Online.

 In a meeting that took observers by surprise, Jim Kimsey met in the rebel-held
 southern village of Los Pozos with Manuel Marulanda, the founder and chief of the
 Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Colombian officials said.

 It was the latest in a series of unusual contacts between business leaders and
 rebels who maintain 1960s-era Marxist rhetoric. The sessions are part of a
 government effort to boost fledgling peace talks by exposing the FARC -- a group
 that earns huge profits off the drug trade and kidnappings -- to the outside world.

 Marulanda said ``he is very much interested in achieving peace,'' the AOL chief
 told reporters after the meeting, which was also attended by Colombian
 government officials and Joseph E. Robert, who runs a Virginia-based investment
 firm.

 ``He understands, I think, that foreign investment is critical to the prosperity of
 this country and I think is willing to negotiate and to discuss possible solutions
 that will move this country into the 21st Century,'' Kimsey added.

 The two even exchanged baseball caps. Marulanda gave Kimsey one in rebel
 camouflage. Kimsey gave Marulanda one emblazoned with the AOL logo.

 Kimsey said he would urge other American businessmen to visit Colombia, but
 doubts that sagging foreign investment will rebound until there is peace.

 Although the peasant-based FARC is seen as isolated from the modern world, it
 has not shied away from the kind of technology Kimsey helped develop.

 From deep in the jungle, the 15,000-member rebel group posts communiques on
 the Internet, sends e-mails to journalists, and uses computers to record finances
 and intelligence about potential kidnapping victims.

 Increased private networking with the guerrillas is occurring despite a U.S.
 government boycott on such contacts.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald