ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss http://cnn.com/WORLD/americas/9901/04/colombia.01/index.html Colombia rebels ready for peace talks In this story: 'Not a better chance for peace' Will U.S. money bring peace Related stories and sites January 4, 1999 Web posted at: 5:18 p.m. EST (2218 GMT) SAN VICENTE DEL CAGUAN, Colombia (CNN) Marxist rebels swarmed around this jungle town on Monday, laying final plans for peace talks to halt a long-running war that claims thousands of lives and costs billions of dollars a year. The first negotiations in seven years between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the largest rebel force in the hemisphere, and the right-wing, free market administration of President Andres Pastrana are set to go ahead on Thursday. If successful, the negotiations would end a 50-year-old conflict that has killed about 35,000 people in the last decade, and has forced a million more to flee their homes. A breakdown of the talks, on the other hand, could push Colombia to the brink of all-out civil war and suck the United States deeper into a conflict of a country that has become the world's third-largest recipient of U.S. aid, political analysts warn. Over the weekend, columns of heavily armed FARC rebels rode into San Vicente in trucks, mapping the main square, patrolling the dirt streets and setting up roadblocks. The town of about 45,000 inhabitants is in a vast swath of southeast Colombia which the government has cleared of troops to allow the rebels to take part in talks without fear of attack. 'Not a better chance for peace' "We will not have a better chance to make peace and if we don't seize the opportunity, history will make us pay for it," Pastrana said in an interview with the news magazine Semana last week. The rebels said the success of the peace talks was in the hands of the government. "The FARC is optimistic about the prospects for talks as long as the government has the political will to invest in peace in the middle of a war," said rebel commander Raul Reyes, speaking at an isolated farm house just outside San Vicente. The Colombian government accuses the FARC of protecting drug traffickers. The FARC says the government uses the counter-narcotics campaign, which is supported by U.S. aid money, as a cover for counter-insurgency operations. The FARC has demanded sweeping agrarian reform, a radical redistribution of wealth and an end to unfettered free market policies. Will U.S. money bring peace? The financial cost of the war for the government is running at about $4 billion a year, or 4 percent of gross domestic product, according to official estimates. And some U.S. defense officials have voiced fears that the insurgents could seize power in as little as five years. Pastrana has already sketched out a $3.5 billion Marshall Plan-style development fund for the most conflict-torn regions. His trump card, some analysts say, could be his warm relationship with Washington: This year, the United States will pump $290 million into Colombia, ostensibly to fight the cocaine and heroin trade. There are also more than 200 U.S. advisers and personnel based in the country. A U.S. State Department official said Monday that U.S. government representatives met FARC rebels last month "to promote the peace process" in Colombia. "Our purpose was also to tell the FARC that U.S.-Colombian counter-narcotics efforts, including aerial eradication, are non-negotiable and will be continued," the official said. The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
