Pubdate: Tue, 18 Sep 2001
Source: The Herald-Sun (NC)
Copyright: 2001 The Herald-Sun
Contact:  http://www.herald-sun.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1428
Author: Jared Kotler (AP)

COLOMBIA REBEL CHIEF BLASTS U.S.

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombia's top rebel chieftain accused the United 
States on Monday of meddling with his country's internal affairs by sending 
"hundreds of military advisers and mercenaries."

Manuel Marulanda, head of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or 
FARC, also warned that peace talks with the government will collapse if 
President Andres Pastrana forces the FARC to give up a Switzerland-sized 
safe haven he ceded to the rebels in southern Colombia.

Marulanda, in a letter posted on the FARC's Internet site, said the peace 
talks "will be over and not even the next president will have an open door" 
should Pastrana send his troops into the 16,200-square-mile zone he granted 
the rebels in an effort to boost the peace process.

The United States is pumping $1.3 billion in mostly military 
counternarcotics aid to Colombia. But the rebels, who make huge profits in 
protection payments from cocaine producers in Colombia, see the U.S. 
assistance as a counterinsurgency campaign.

Up to 800 U.S. military personnel and civilians contracted by the State 
Department are allowed in Colombia at one time under restrictions imposed 
by Congress. Green Berets have been training Colombian anti-drug troops and 
U.S. contractors piloting planes that fumigate drug crops.

Negotiations with the FARC inside the so-called demilitarized zone have 
yielded little. Meanwhile, Colombia's military and U.S. officials have 
accused the guerrillas of using the area for military preparations, to 
stash hostages and to further enrich themselves in the cocaine trade.

The Colombian army also said Monday that more suspected members of the 
Irish Republican Army visited the zone than previously believed. Three 
suspected IRA members were arrested last month after allegedly conducting 
explosives training for the FARC inside the zone.

But two other suspected IRA members -- identified as John Francis Johnson 
and James Edward Walker -- traveled into the zone in April and left 
Colombia before they could be detained, an army spokesman said.

Pastrana must decide whether to renew safe-haven status for the rebel 
territory, which is set to expire Oct. 6. He has indicated he probably will 
do so.

Leading candidates in next May's presidential elections are calling for 
controls on the safe haven if not its outright cancellation should peace 
talks continue to founder.

Front-runner Horacio Serpa is planning a protest caravan from Bogota to the 
area later this month. Last week, the rebels warned that the FARC cannot 
"be held responsible for his security" during the march.

Colombia's 37-year conflict kills some 3,000 people annually.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart