"The alliance between Pastrana and the United States to step up the war against the FARC, under the pretext of fighting drug trafficking, casts doubt on the government's will for peace." 

REUTERS
Sunday, 19 September 1999

Colombia Rebels Say U.S. Aid Could Derail Peace Talks

BOGOTA -- Colombia's peace process could collapse and open the way to all-out civil war if the government draws on more military aid from the United States, powerful Marxist rebel chieftains said Sunday

The communique came as President Andres Pastrana traveled to New York to address the United Nations and lobby U.S. officials, increasingly worried by a surge in the long-running insurgency, for more anti-drug and military assistance.

The statement by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Latin America's largest surviving 1960s rebel army, appeared to rebuff Pastrana's latest bid over the weekend to kick-start peace negotiations, stalled since mid-July. Before departing for New York, Pastrana dropped his demand for the creation of an international team of monitors to oversee talks -- a condition the FARC had fiercely opposed.

``The alliance between Pastrana and the United States to step up the war against the FARC, under the pretext of fighting drug trafficking, casts doubt on the government's will for peace,'' said the statement signed by the FARC's ruling seven-man general secretariat, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

``These factors are not signs of the government's commitment to a long-lasting peace but of a warlike attitude that could lead to a civil war of unforeseeable consequences,'' it added.

Pastrana was due to meet President Clinton in New York Tuesday and hold talks with an array of U.S. officials on the sidelines of the U.N. general assembly Monday.

U.S. officials have repeatedly accused the FARC of stalling tactics in the peace process that was launched without any prior cease-fire deal in January. They have urged Pastrana to use a ''carrot and stick'' approach to end the guerrilla uprising that has claimed 35,000 lives in the last 10 years.

Pastrana pledged to build up the army, weakened by a series of devastating guerrilla strikes over the last three years, and prepare it for peace or war. He requested some $500 million in military aid for that purpose.

Washington, however, called for Pastrana to present an integrated economic and political strategy to pull Colombia out of its worst recession in more than 50 years and bring an end to the civil conflict before it contemplates an increase in aid, already set at $280 million this year.

Many U.S. officials have signaled alarm at the FARC's growing military strength and their close links to the drug trade. White House anti-drug director Barry McCaffrey urged a sharp increase in U.S. aid to South America in 2000 and indicated some $600 million could be donated to Colombia.

In its eight-point document made public Sunday, the FARC said Pastrana's failure to crack down on illegal, ultra-right death squads or to cut a deal to release jailed guerrillas were also obstacles to restarting peace negotiations.

Pastrana said Saturday he hoped peace talks could restart soon after he dropped his insistence on a so-called international verification committee to oversee negotiations. In late July Pastrana described talks without verification as a ''sterile exercise.''

Critics were likely to interpret the move as Pastrana's latest climbdown in a series of sweeping concessions that failed to force the FARC to soften its stance.

According to recent opinion polls, most ordinary Colombians believe Pastrana was mishandling the peace process and doubt talks will encourage the FARC to end its radical demands for a socialist regime.

Military authorities said the FARC was using a Switzerland-sized zone in the southeast, which Pastrana cleared of security forces as a forum for talks, as a springboard for attacks around the country and as the center of a drugs-for-arms smuggling racket.

The FARC itself has said it will try to take power by force if it fails to win its demands at the peace table.