Wednesday, June 14, 2000
Colombia's rebel army opens its lair
Turning point in civil war: International diplomats to gather under
plastic awning for talks with FARC
Marina Jimenez
National Post (Canada)
Milton Diaz, National Post
VILLA NUEVA COLOMBIA, COLOMBIA - In the fly-blown "capital" of its own
pseudo-state on the edge of the Amazon jungle, Colombia's largest rebel
army is preparing to play host to the world's diplomats.
Canada's ambassador to Colombia will join 23 other foreign dignitaries
and Colombian government officials at the unprecedented meeting with the
Marxist FARC -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- which
specializes in kidnappings and revolution, and controls a section of the
country the size of Switzerland.
A delegation of 20 coca leaf growers will be there, underlining
Colombia's status as producer of about 80% of the world's cocaine.
The United States will not be present. Although invited, sources said it
is unlikely the ambassador will accept. Spurred largely by its desire to
eradicate the drug trade, Washington is pouring US$1.6-billion into
Colombia, much of it directed to the country's army, which has fought
FARC in a 36-year-old civil war.
Guillermo Rishchynski, Canada's ambassador, acknowledges the session
provides the guerrillas with an unusual degree of recognition.
"This is the first time the international community has been invited by
FARC to talk about issues of substance and that's an important
departure. It implies a certain level of recognition for FARC," he said.
"Ultimately if there are going to be real negotiations, everyone has to
make concessions and move from extreme positions ... and agree to forego
attacking innocent civilians."
Joining Canada at the June 29-30 gathering will be observers and
ambassadors from Japan, Britain, Europe and Latin America. They will sit
on white garden chairs under a plastic awning to discuss what
participants see as a significant turning point in efforts to end the
civil war.
Villa Nueva Colombia is the centre of peace talks that have been going
on for two years. But never have so many international dignitaries come
to the centre of FARC's lair.
They are expected to raise humanitarian issues with the guerrillas,
including the wholesale kidnapping of civilians, while FARC and the coca
growers want to discuss alternatives to the lucrative cocaine
operations, centred here in Caqueta province and neighbouring Putumayo.
Both FARC and right-wing para-military groups benefit from the illicit
crop. Although FARC does not grow coca, it gets about $500-million a
year from "taxes" levied on coca production and transport in the areas
it controls.
"There are no drug traffickers in this zone, only poor people who are
forced to grow coca to survive," Alfonso Cano, FARC's second-in-command,
said in a recent interview with the National Post.
"Our image abroad is misunderstood, we are seen as the narco-guerrillas.
But it's not true, we want to resolve the drug problem."
The guerrillas plan to put forward suggestions for crop substitution.
They will ask foreign governments to help fund a pilot project to grow
alternative crops, such as palm oil or rubber, in Cartagena del Chaira,
an area outside the demilitarized zone.
The foreign dignitaries will get a helicopter tour of the surrounding
jungle, giving them a chance to catch a glimpse of a coca plantation or
two from the air.
They will bunk down in an abandoned military base, and be transported to
the conference site in four-by-four jeeps, the only vehicles capable of
traversing the impossibly bumpy red dirt road from San Vicente del
Caguan, the closest town an hour away.
Some analysts believe the Colombian government made a huge mistake when
it allowed the creation of the demilitarized zone, officially known as
zona de despeje ("cleared zone").
The move enabled FARC to consolidate its power base and coca growers to
expand their business. According to Mr. Cano, kidnapping and extortion
continue as a regrettably necessary form of financing the 17,000-member
army.
"We are in a confrontation with the state and it costs a lot," said the
52-year-old former anthropologist, who wears military fatigues and
tortoiseshell glasses, and sports a pistol at his hip.
"But from a political point of view, kidnapping is not something we can
justify."
Analysts believe FARC's attempt to seek political legitimacy through
international meetings such as this one -- and through two recent trips
to Spain to meet European politicians -- is a double-edged sword.
"While FARC wants peace, they want it negotiated from a state of war. I
don't know anywhere in the world where this has happened before," noted
one diplomat. "The government is in a very weak position and has bent
over backward to accommodate FARC."
The international meeting will almost certainly include a heated
discussion of the controversial Plan Colombia, President Andres
Pastrana's $7.5-billion blueprint to combat drug trafficking and finance
the peace process.
Bill Clinton, the U.S. President, has pledged $1.6-billion, mostly in
military aid, to equip Colombia's army with 60 helicopters and train
airborne anti-drug squads that will spray powerful herbicides on to drug
plantations. This would make Colombia the largest recipient of U.S.
foreign aid, after Israel and Egypt.
But the U.S. funding, now held up in Congress, has prompted critics from
within the United States and some European countries to suggest the
United States is getting dragged into another Vietnam. They fear the
"campaign into the south" will draw U.S. military advisors into the
broader conflict between the guerrillas and the government.
For their part, U.S. officials have pledged not to get involved in an
armed insurgency. They say the aid will be used solely to eradicate coca
production, not to fight the guerrillas.
Said one diplomat: "The timing of the FARC meeting may be an attempt to
undermine the military component of Plan Colombia, which FARC sees as
hurting them."
Regardless of the topics discussed at the meeting, the very fact it is
happening gives FARC a new legitimacy, said Medofilo Medina, a professor
at Colombia's National University.
"At least there is contact, even if the peace talks are for now a chance
for the two sides to merely register the advances or setbacks of the
internal strife."
But meaningful peace negotiations can only take place once FARC lays
down its weapons and Colombia's armed forces break off ties with the
right-wing para-military groups.
Next month, guerrillas and government negotiators are expected to
present proposals for a cease-fire. These could lead to a promise to end
all hostilities if the government agrees to financially sustain the
rebel force during any peace talks.
However, a ceasefire agreement with FARC will not solve all Colombia's
problems. Mr. Pastrana must still contend with other insurgency
movements, principally the Army of National Liberation, responsible for
last year's brazen kidnapping of 44 passengers on a plane and
worshippers in a church in Cali.
Government negotiators recently agreed to grant ELN's 5,000 members
their own version of FARC's demilitarized zone in northern Colombia.
This time, the government decided to call the piece of land a zona de
encuentro, a meeting place.
The next group expected to step up to the plate to negotiate for its own
chunk of territory is the Autodefensas Unidas, the 11,000-strong
paramilitary force led by Carlos Castano.
He showed his face to the world for the first time on television earlier
this year. Significantly, he picked a business suit for the lengthy
interview.
"Really, the Colombian state is so weak that it has to negotiate with
three delinquent states," said Jose Cuesta, a professor of conflict
studies, and a human rights activist.
Back at Villa Nueva Colombia, the FARC offices hum with activity as
guerrillas write e-mails on their laptops and issue comunicados in
preparation for the international meeting.
Outside, blowing in the wind is the group's official flag. It is red,
blue and yellow, the same colours as the Colombian flag. The only
difference is that the guerrillas' version has two rifles and a book in
the middle.
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