Pubdate: Fri, 06 Jan 2006 Source: Toronto Star (CN ON) Copyright: 2006 The Toronto Star Contact: http://www.thestar.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) COLOMBIA CLASHES LEAVE 16 DEAD VISTA HERMOSA, Colombia -- Fourteen guerrillas and two soldiers were killed in clashes in an area of southern Colombia that the government is trying to clear of rebels before launching a coca-eradication campaign, an army spokesman said. Fighting between the army and a faction of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, Colombia's oldest guerrilla group, broke out on the edge of Sierra Macarena National Park, not far from where 29 soldiers were killed by the rebels last month. Government forces are trying to rid the zone of rebels before large-scale coca-eradication begins Jan. 20. Coca is the raw material used to make cocaine. The two soldiers were killed while traversing a minefield and six soldiers were injured during the fighting that left 14 rebels dead, Gen. Luis Coronado said. President Alvaro Uribe, visiting Meta province last month, vowed to wipe out coca in the area following the surprise ambush and massacre of 29 soldiers who were in the area to protect eradication crews. That guerrilla assault was the deadliest since Uribe took office three years ago. Many fear the wave of violence will worsen ahead of May's presidential elections. The FARC, financed in large part by drug-trafficking, have been waging a war to overthrow the government for more than four decades. Separately, in Putumayo province, near Colombia's southern border with Ecuador, police organized caravans Friday to protect weary motorists near where FARC rebels bombed oil installations and three energy towers over New Year's. The attacks left the sparsely populated province without power for days and caused thousands of litres of crude to spill into three pristine rivers. Work crews protected by military units expected to have full power restored by Monday to 200,000 residents still without electricity, Putumayo's state-run energy distributor said. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman