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From: Colombian Labor Monitor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Colombia's Pastrana against foreign intervention, trusts FARC
leader
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 23:09:46 -0500 (CDT)
Tuesday, 21 September 1999
Colombia's Pastrana against foreign
intervention, trusts FARC leader
-----------------------------------
By Ana Maria Echeverria
UNITED NATIONS -- Colombian President Andres Pastrana told the United
Nations that he vehemently opposes foreign intervention in his country
regardless of the pretext, an allusion to talk about foreign soldiers
going in to quell ongoing violence.
Talk has swirled in the region about a multinational military force of
Latin nations, coordinated by the United States, entering Colombia to
stop the seemingly endless violence between the government, the three
Marxist rebel groups, right-wing paramilitaries and drug lords.
Citing an increase in the drug trade, the United States has increased its
assistance to the Colombian military over the past months.
Yet Pastrana, speaking to the 54th UN General Assembly on Monday, even
reaffirmed his trust in Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda, the leader of the
largest and best-armed rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC).
The violence in Colombia took a turn for the worse when peace talks
between Pastrana's government and the FARC broke down when the rebels
refused a government demand for an international force to monitor
activity in the Switzerland-sized demilitarized zone under FARC control.
Pastrana reminded the General Assembly that "one of the sacred bases" of
the UN charter is the obligation of states "to not intervene directly or
indirectly in affairs of other nations."
At times Pastrana seemed to be reacting to Secretary General Kofi Annan's
speech earlier in the day, in which Annan said the United Nations must
intervene over the rights of sovereign states when necessary to protect
civilians from war and mass slaughter.
Annan, drawing on lessons in Rwanda and Kosovo, told the Assembly that
its "core challenge" in the 21st century is "to forge unity behind the
principle that massive and systematic violations of human rights --
wherever they occur -- should not be allowed to stand."
Pastrana was not swayed, at least when it came to Colombia.
"International peace is based on the sovereignty of the member countries,"
he told the General Assembly.
In a press conference after his speech, Pastrana said he continued to
believe that FARC leader Marulanda was still committed to peace.
"I believe in Marulanda's word, and I expect it to be fulfilled,"
Pastrana said. Despite the setbacks "we have advanced more in the past
months (towards peace) than in the previous 15 years," he said.
The FARC said in a statement Sunday that an alleged alliance between
Pastrana and the US government to fight the rebels casts doubt on
Colombia's peace efforts.
Pastrana's alliance with the United States to intensify the war against
the FARC, "which has been disguised as an attempt to fight drug
trafficking ... casts doubt on the government's intentions for peace,"
the rebel group said in the statement.
Pastrana, however, insisted that he wanted to talk peace, and that he
was against any kind of foreign intervention regardless of the pretext.
"Colombia will accept no type of foreign intervention," Pastrana bluntly
told reporters.
Top US officials have also repeatedly denied plans to militarily
intervene in Colombia.
Copyright 1999 Agence France Presse
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