ASSOCIATED PRESS
Monday, 23 April 2001
Colombian Guerrilla Groups Allying
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By Will Weissert
BOGOTA -- Setting aside animosity and ideological differences, Colombia's
two largest guerrilla groups are increasingly joining forces on the
battlefield.
Some observers predict a short-lived alliance against rightist
paramilitaries and counter-drug operations. But others said a
frighteningly potent merger may be on the way between the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and the National Liberation Army, or
ELN.
In the latest evidence of cooperation, the army says 18 guerillas killed
in a battle over the weekend were rebels from a joint-operation involving
the two groups and a smaller insurgent faction.
''They were fighting alongside one another,'' said Gen. Martin Carreno of
the army's 5th Brigade in northern Colombia. ''That has to be a concern.''
Colombia's 37-year war has been escalating as right-wing paramilitaries
challenge guerrillas for territory, and the United States provides the
armed forces with helicopters and Special Forces training under the Plan
Colombia anti-drug scheme. At least 3,000 people are killed every year.
Last week, top ELN commander Pablo Beltran said close ties between
Colombia's army and paramilitary groups have left his group with no choice
but to ally with the FARC at different strategic points throughout the
countryside.
One such area is southwestern Cauca State, where the two groups are
reportedly teaming up against paramilitary fighters who killed up to 40
villagers in an Easter Week massacre.
Some say these joint military offensives foretell a frightening change of
heart for the rebel factions.
It could end ''with the two groups joining together under one
administrative and military front that will be very powerful and very
dangerous,'' said Alejo Vargas, a history professor at Colombia's national
university
Gains by paramilitaries may not be the only reason for the newfound
friendship between the 16,000-strong FARC and the 5,000-member ELN.
Some experts speculate the move could help the FARC gain new territory in
the face of U.S.-backed Plan Colombia, which has targeted some of its most
important strongholds.
''The FARC is expecting that Plan Colombia's offenses are going to push
them out of the south where the coca is grown,'' said Walter J. Broderick,
an Australian who has written two books on the ELN. ''Now they want to
concentrate their efforts in the rest of the country where the ELN is
strongest.''
For the ELN, teaming up with its once-bitter rival could mean the faction
is too weak to continue fighting on its own.
''Their tank is empty,'' Alfredo Rangel, a former national security
adviser, said. ''They want to get out with honor, they want to make peace.
Until the government listens to them they will be ready to join with the
FARC just to stay around.''
Although both have been fighting for power since the 1960s, and each has
turned to kidnapping and drug profits to sustain their operations, the
FARC and the ELN are very different.
Centered in the south, the FARC is officially Marxist, but its leaders are
mainly aggrieved peasants who claim to be fighting for land reform and an
end to corruption.
The ELN began as a combination of radical university students and priests
inspired by the Cuban revolution. The group opposes foreign oil
exploitation and frequently bombs pipelines.
The factions have generally avoided battles with one another. They have
even worked together and staged a 1990 summit to announce they were
forming a united front, which quickly collapsed.
''They don't like taking orders from each other very much,'' said
Broderick. ''That will make any alliance they have now hard to maintain
forever.''
Their relationship has never been cozy. Last summer, ELN forces and the
FARC clashed violently in the Cauca region where the two now claim to be
working together.
Copyright 2001 Associated Press
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