Pubdate: Thu, 08 Feb 2001 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 2001 San Jose Mercury News Contact: 750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95190 Fax: (408) 271-3792 Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Forum: http://forums.bayarea.com/webx/cgi-bin/WebX Author: JUAN FORERO New York Times PRESSURE ON COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT TO GAIN REBELS' COMMITMENT TO NEGOTIATIONS BOGOTA, Colombia -- With the hopes of a war-weary nation on his shoulders, Andres Pastrana won the presidency in June 1998. He was the candidate for peace who Colombians believed would bring Latin America's largest and oldest rebel group to the peace table. But more than 2 1/2 years later, peace remains elusive, and Pastrana's popularity has plummeted. The rebels refuse to negotiate, and the swath of territory Pastrana ceded to them as a haven for peace talks remains firmly in their grasp. Many Colombians, frustrated over the lack of progress, have lost faith. Now, Pastrana has embarked on a politically risky move that analysts are calling a last-ditch effort to avert all-out war: a meeting today in the rebel zone with Manuel Marulanda, the Marxist revolutionary who leads the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The goal, as Pastrana put it in a direct appeal to Marulanda, is to ``decide once and for all if we are going to continue the peace process that you and I started.'' Public in doubt But political analysts say that for Pastrana to maintain political legitimacy and presidential authority, he has to return with more than just a nebulous pledge from Marulanda that his group is committed to a peaceful resolution of the 37-year-old conflict. The rebel leader must agree -- and forcefully so -- that his group, known as FARC, will pursue peace through negotiations, experts say. And to prove the rebels' sincerity to a doubtful public, progress must be made on issues that have been obstacles to negotiations. ``The reunion shouldn't be just to reactivate the dialogue,'' said Luis Fernando Velasco, a Congress member and supporter of the peace effort. ``It wouldn't be enough to satisfy the expectations and the needs of the people.'' Several analysts said one hopeful and likely outcome could be an announcement that the two sides had agreed to press ahead on an exchange of sick prisoners. But better for the president would be an affirmation from the rebels that they would seriously pursue a cease-fire or that international monitors would be allowed into the territory that the group controls. ``What has to be reaffirmed is there are two sides in this, that the FARC is also interested in moving the process forward,'' said Daniel Garc(acu)a-Pe, a former government peace negotiator and now the director of the peace group Planeta Paz. ``There has to be a re-launching of the process that will bring, in a few months, some concrete results, concrete accords that can give the process some life.'' Pastrana's efforts to renew the peace talks come as the United States is delivering a huge aid package aimed at curtailing Colombia's cocaine trade, which has helped fuel the war. When Pastrana first created the demilitarized zone in November 1998, hopes were high that the unusual gesture would foster enough good will to bring peace. After all, Marulanda had supported Pastrana's candidacy. Months later, though, Pastrana's efforts were being seriously tested. In January 1999, Marulanda snubbed Pastrana by failing to show up at their first planned meeting inside the rebel zone. Setbacks in negotiations And although the two men did finally meet again in May 1999, the past two years have seen both sides break off negotiations numerous times. Pastrana has repeatedly been forced to extend the life of the demilitarized zone to restart peace talks. All the while, the FARC has been accused of using the territory to fortify itself, hide kidnap victims and cultivate coca. The latest slap in the face came in December, when a Colombian Congress member, Diego Turbay, and six others were assassinated just outside the zone and the rebels at first declined to take responsibility or offer a denial. Three weeks ago, Marulanda emphatically denied responsibility in an interview with Voz, a communist paper. The setbacks have been devastating to Pastrana. Semana, the leading newsmagazine in Colombia, noted in a story this week that the president ``who will arrive for the meeting with Marulanda'' is ``not the same one from 2 1/2 years ago.'' Pastrana ``put all his chips'' on the peace plan, the article went on, which could mean he will finish his presidency with little to show for his efforts unless the FARC agrees to seriously talk peace. A presidential election is scheduled for next year, and Pastrana, as the incumbent, cannot run. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry F