Reuters (with additional material by AP). 21 January 2002. New Violence as Colombia, Rebels Work on Cease - Fire.
BOGOTA -- Colombia's Marxist FARC rebels killed four people and blew up six electrical towers in attacks on Monday even as government and guerrilla negotiators began deciding how to implement a cease-fire by April 7. On Monday, rebels killed three police officers and a female civilian in attacks against state security forces in central and northern Colombia, a police spokesman said. The rebels, who have traditionally staged offensives during negotiations as a reminder of their military might, also damaged a bridge after detonating a car bomb south of the capital, Bogota. Sunday's accord was a victory for Pastrana, who is struggling to base his legacy on delivering some peace to Colombia. The FARC and the government agreed on Sunday to a timetable to silence their guns, in the first concrete achievement in three years of on-again, off-again peace talks aimed at ending a 38-year-old war that has killed 40,000 people in the past decade alone. Potential obstacles lie ahead as the sides must hammer out a definition of the cease-fire, particularly over whether it will include a pause in rebels' kidnappings of civilians and attacks on the country's infrastructure. Minutes after the accord was announced, Pastrana told the nation he was extending the life of the demilitarized zone to April 10 to allow talks to continue. Stressing the need to hold talks without an "armed confrontation," the government and FARC set themselves 80 days to sign a bilateral cease-fire, a move welcomed by international mediators as an opportunity to achieve peace. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish initials FARC, also agreed to put on the negotiating table an end to its practice of kidnapping civilians, a major source of rebel income. The government wants the 17,000-member FARC to stop its attacks against the army and police and infrastructure and is also pressing for an end to ransom kidnapping -- a tactic that has traumatized Colombians, particularly the rich [since it is only the rich the FARC ever kidnaps]. The FARC, which is fighting for socialist reforms in a country where more than half the population of 40 million people live below the poverty line, wants the government to suspend free-market reforms and provide unemployment benefits. In a nod to each side, Sunday's accord stated the need to address rebels' kidnappings and the issue of unemployment benefits. Political analysts said the cease-fire would be hard to maintain because of the wide dispersal of mobile guerrilla fronts operating in the Andean nation. Any chance clash with a military unit would trigger accusations rebels had violated the truce and could throw the peace process into a new crisis. Moreover, rebels could consider any actions taken by the paramilitaries to be violations by the government. In a threatening statement Monday, the paramilitaries labeled Pastrana a "traitor" and warned that a cease-fire deal could mean giving the rebels more territory. On Monday, Carlos Castano, leader of the 8,000-member outlawed right-wing paramilitaries, accused Pastrana in an e-mail communique of "selling out" Colombia to the FARC and pledged to continue fighting the rebels [N.B.]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews
