FARC on the run ?

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday April 22, 2003 08:00 by joe ranii

Continued heavy losses and heightened public revulsion for their actions may be nudging the FARC leadership towards suing for peace. However, while fervently wishing for peace and reconciliation, Colombians will be wary of any peace process that replicates the failed strategy of discredited former president Andres Pastrana.

Rebel Leader Wants Peace Talks

By JUAN PABLO TORO
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOGOTA, (AP) -
Colombia’s top rebel commander has asked Colombia's government to renew peace talks, the third such request in a month.
Manuel Marulanda, commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, said the FARC is seeking a "civilized political end to the conflict," which has been tearing at Colombia for almost four decades.
Gen. Carlos Alberto Ospina, commander of the Colombian army, said Monday that the military had no intention of responding to Marulanda's communique. The government rejected Marulanda's two previous statements.
"Our job is not to receive letters from the bandits," he said. "The army will continue its operations."
The Colombian government ceded a Switzerland-sized territory to the FARC in 1998 to facilitate peace talks but retook the demilitarized zone a year ago after years of fruitless negotiations.
The Colombian military complained the FARC was using the safe haven to stash hostages and run its drug trafficking business.
The FARC, which is responsible for the majority of kidnappings in Colombia, currently holds captive dozens of politicians, soldiers and police officers.
Meanwhile, the army said Monday that 28 rebels were killed in scattered fighting with the military throughout Colombia on Sunday. Of those killed, 17 were rebels from the FARC and 11 were from the nation's smaller rebel group, the National Liberation Army.

(PS: "demilitarized zone" is a very inaccurate translation of the Spanish. The fact is that the zone was anything but demilitaried, it was chock full of FARC weaponry ! --j ranii)