[NOTE: NYT's Larry Rohter has outdone himself! Not
only does he show a lack of depth in his knowledge
of the Colombian situation, but he relies heavily on
the arguments of columnist Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza,
and ex-governor of Antioquia Alvaro Uribe Velez to
support his take on the peace talks. Both individuals
just sponsored an event honoring two generals that
were forced to retire because of their close links to
right-wing death-squads and their participation in
the torture and execution of hundreds of innocent
civilians in Colombia's dirty war. Uribe Velez, when
governor, sponsored the creation of Convivir units
--basically legal death-squads that have since been
outlawed. And the NYT quotes them approvingly! -DG]
=====================================================
The forced retirement last month of two generals
said to have links to paramilitary groups has been
praised by foreign governments and human rights
groups as a significant advance in creating a climate
for real negotiations. In Colombia, however, that
action has been criticized as a humiliating
capitulation to pressures by the rebels and the
United States Embassy. ______________ ===================================================== NEW YORK TIMES
Monday, 3 May 1999
Colombia's Offer to Rebels Appears Futile
-----------------------------------------
By Larry Rohter
SAN VICENTE DEL CAGUAN, Colombia -- Nearly six months ago, the Colombian Government ceded control of a Switzerland-sized area to the country's main Marxist guerrilla group, a good-faith gesture intended to jump-start peace talks here. But with a deadline for the Government's withdrawal from the zone less than a week away, the rebels appear reluctant to budge --either from their jungle stronghold here or from a sweeping list of demands that stalled the discussions.
President Andres Pastrana had warned that the rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, would have to withdraw its troops from the ceded area if an agreement were not reached by May 7 to begin formal negotiations.
After a surprise meeting between the president and guerrilla leaders Sunday, the two sides jointly announced that peace talks would begin on Thursday.
Any breakdown of peace negotiations would probably lead to new and more intense violence in the protracted internal conflict that has killed more than 35,000 Colombians in the past decade.
Guerrilla leaders shut down the discussions just days after they started in January, demanding that Mr. Pastrana curb the activities of right-wing paramilitary groups, which the rebels say are merely an extension of the Colombian Armed Forces. The preliminary discussions resumed two weeks ago, and though few details have been revealed, Victor G. Ricardo, the Government's chief peace negotiator, said progress is being made, albeit slowly.
"There is no book that teaches you how to deal with the guerrillas," he said in an interview last week in Bogota. "You can't ask Colombia to achieve a peace agreement overnight just from a series of work sessions. This is a process that requires time, but the important thing is that we are near to having a common agenda that would permit us to move on to the next phase, that of negotiations."
The popular perception, however, is that the Government is on the defensive, scrambling to meet the guerrillas' every demand, beginning with the unusual cession of sovereignty over a swath of territory and getting nothing in return. The writer Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza wrote scornfully in his column in the newspaper "El Espectador" last week of "Victor G. in his Gucci belt, giving everything away."
The hopefulness and widespread enthusiasm for the peace talks that was palpable when the formal contacts with the rebels began has now largely dissipated. Indeed, in a recent poll, nearly three-quarters of those surveyed said that they doubt the guerrillas are negotiating in good faith and expressed pessimism about the outcome of the talks.
Apparently as a result of the Government's willingness to be accommodating, the rebels have increased the number of talking points from 10 to more than 100.
Rebel leaders, who finance many of their arms purchases with a tax on drug traffickers, have also asked to be given control of an additional zone where an experimental program to substitute other crops for coca can be tried.
Minister of Defense Rodrigo Lloreda dryly replies to that demand, "They can do that where they are."
The Marxist rebels began their insurgency in 1964. They are seeking land for peasants and other elements of a classic Communist program.
The forced retirement last month of two generals said to have links to paramilitary groups has been praised by foreign governments and human rights groups as a significant advance in creating a climate for real negotiations. In Colombia, however, that action has been criticized as a humiliating capitulation to pressures by the rebels and the United States Embassy.
"To fire the generals at the request of the guerrillas is to hand over to the insurgents a presidential prerogative," Alvaro Uribe, a former governor of the war-torn province of Antioquia and a prominent opposition leader, said during a ceremony in suuport of the generals in Bogota on Thursday. "It is counterproductive to make concessions to the insurgency without a single act of reciprocity in favor of the population."
The Government's effort at even-handedness has backfired in another way. Resentful that the largest rebel group has been the focus of attention, the country's second-largest guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army, is insisting that it also be granted authority over an area of the country. Last month, it hijacked a passenger plane to press that demand, which the Government has rejected. "They argue that they cannot be treated in a manner inferior" to the larger group, Mr. Ricardo said. "But there are a lot of differences in their situation."
Hoping for a breakdown of the talks, the Colombian Self-Defense Union, the main right-wing paramilitary organization, says it has sent 2,000 of its combatants to an area adjoining the rebel-controlled zone, adding to tensions. Mr. Lloreda said the Government has "zero tolerance" for the paramilitaries, but he also expressed a willingness to confront the guerrillas if necessary.
"If for any reason some of these groups are not yet ready for this," he said, "people understand very clearly that there has to be some type of pressure so that they will understand negotiations are their best bet and they are not going anywhere through military activity."
But the army suffers from morale and operational problems, making negotiations the most attractive option for the Government too. Though the army, like the guerrillas, has used the six-month lull, which was never a formal cease-fire and did not stop fighting outside the zone, to strengthen communications, intelligence and training procedures, military analysts say it is still not prepared to resume full-scale conflict.
But even if both sides agree to take the next step, "there is going to be gunfire, and plenty of it," predicted Dario Fajardo, co-author of "Colombia: Violence and Democracy" and a professor at National University.
"The negotiations are being envisioned without a cease-fire being declared. You need both sides to agree to that, and the guerrillas are not going to accept a truce" that strips them of their only way to pressure the state.
Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company _______________________________________________________________________ *********************************************************************** * COLOMBIA SUPPORT NETWORK: To subscribe to CSN-L send request to * * listserv at postoffice.cso.uiuc.edu SUB CSN-L Firstname Lastname * * (Direct questions or comments about CSN-L to csncu at prairienet.org) * * Visit the website of CSN's Champaign-Urbana (Illinois) chapter at * * http://www.prairienet.org/csncu Subscribe to the COLOMBIA BULLETIN * * For free copy and info contact CSN, P.O. Box 1505, Madison WI 53701 * * or call (608) 257-8753 fax: (608) 255-6621 Email: csn at igc.apc.org * * Visit the COLOMBIA SUPPORT NETWORK at http://www.igc.org/csn * * Visit the COLOMBIAN LABOR MONITOR at http://www.prairienet.org/clm * ***********************************************************************