AP (with additional material by Reuters). 4 January 2002. Colombia Talks Bog Down Over Patrols Around Rebel Safe Haven.
BOGOTA -- The government and Colombia's largest rebel army wrapped up two days of talks on Friday locked in a bitter dispute about military patrols around the guerrillas' main stronghold. No agreements were announced, but the negotiations aimed at reviving the peace process were scheduled to resume Sunday or Monday, presidential peace commissioner Camilo Gomez announced. As he left the meetings in Los Pozos, a southern village held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, Gomez declined to give details of the discussions. Earlier in the day, the FARC issued a stern statement saying the military's insistence on security patrols was "shutting down any possibility" of resurrecting the peace talks. The rebels accused top military commanders of having a "warmongering attitude." Negotiations were suspended until Monday as both sides fumed over the side issue of controls on the FARC's Switzerland-sized enclave, including military air patrols and border restrictions ordered by the president in October. Senior FARC guerrilla Carlos Antonio Lozada said the statement by armed forces chief Fernando Tapias on Thursday that the controls were nonnegotiable had eliminated "any possibility to find a way out of the current paralysis in negotiations." "What is really hidden behind the general's declarations is the warmongering attitude of the military command, which always turns its back on peace," Lozada said. Pastrana authorized military overflights and imposed restrictions on the entry of foreigners into the area in October, prompting the FARC earlier to walk away from the negotiating table. The FARC claims the measures endanger their negotiators. The FARC also claims the government has been unwilling to address its principal demands, combatting rural poverty, government corruption, and right-wing paramilitary militias. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews
