Pubdate: Mon, 25 Oct, 1999
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 1999 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95190
Fax: (408) 271-3792
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Author: Juanita Darling

MILLIONS MARCH FOR PEACE AS TALKS BEGIN IN COLOMBIA

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Millions of Colombians marched Sunday in hundreds of 
cities and villages, chanting, "No more, we want peace!" to demand an end 
to their country's prolonged conflict and to abuses of civilians.

An estimated 2 million people turned out in the capital, nearly 1 million 
each in Cali and Medellin, and thousands more in 800 villages across the 
country, along with hundreds of Colombians in 30 foreign cities. Even as 
they marched, one of the demonstrators' key petitions was being met as 
peace talks resumed between the government and Marxist rebels, who have 
been fighting for 35 years.

Sunday's turnout was remarkable both because of a nationwide drizzle and 
because Colombia, unlike other Latin American countries, lacks a tradition 
of public demonstrations. Marchers were protesting a multi-sided civil war 
that has left more than 100,000 people dead in a country of 40 million and, 
in this decade alone, has displaced an estimated 1.5 million others.

Civilian Killings

So far this year, rebels and the right-wing armed groups that oppose them 
have killed some 1,100 civilians, and rebels currently are holding 221 
civilians for ransom, according to police and armed forces records. Protest 
organizers estimated that, each month, 25,000 civilians are driven from 
their homes.

Until Sunday, talks between the government and Colombia's oldest and 
largest rebel group -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by 
the initials FARC -- had been stalled for three months over the issue of 
international observers.

As the talks resumed, government officials attending the discussions 
acknowledged that the marchers' other demands -- an immediate cease-fire 
and an end to kidnappings -- are two of the thorniest issues that 
negotiators confront.

Kidnapping, along with drug trafficking, is a major source of financing for 
the rebels, who control about 40 percent of the national territory. Any 
success in U.S.-backed efforts to thwart narcotics production in areas 
under rebel control would leave the rebels more dependent on funds from 
kidnapping, analysts warn.

Colombia is the world's No. 1 source of cocaine and is a growing supplier 
of heroin.

Negotiators have dismissed calls for an immediate cease-fire from the armed 
forces and the right-wing fighters, who call themselves self-defense 
forces, as extremist positions that would destroy any possibility of 
continuing talks.

In a reminder that finding a negotiated solution to the country's complex 
civil war will be difficult, four peasants reportedly were slain and 20 
houses burned Saturday on the road to the jungle town of Uribe, where 
negotiators met. Self-defense forces are suspected in the killings, which 
occurred in a zone the Colombian military evacuated almost a year ago to 
clear the way for peace talks.

Shortly after the peace march, authorities reported that three bombs had 
exploded in the old cocaine cartel headquarters of Medellin, where alleged 
leaders of a suspected new drug ring were arrested earlier this month 
pending extradition to the United States. No one immediately claimed 
responsibility for the explosions, which caused extensive damage but no 
casualties.

History Of Conflict

Early in this decade, terrorism from drug traffickers opposed to 
extradition made Colombians feel increasingly vulnerable to attack in the 
cities. When bombings and kidnappings by drug traffickers subsided, the 
civil war became more intense, especially in the countryside.

The self-defense forces then became major actors in the conflict, 
displacing such people as 2,500 farmers from the northwestern province of 
Choco who have been living in refugee camps for 31 months.

"While they talk about peace, the number of displaced people is becoming 
critical," said Marco Velasquez, 36, who fled his farm in the Cacarica 
region of Choco when self-defense forces threatened to kill anyone who did 
not leave.

While still afraid for their lives, refugees from Choco joined Sunday's 
marches.

Uribe, the site of the peace talks, was one of the few places where the 
demonstrations took on an air of protest, with the relatives of soldiers 
and police being held by the FARC marching with their mouths taped to 
symbolize their feelings of exclusion from the peace talks.

In Bogota, where most marchers wore white, as organizers requested, the 
atmosphere was more festive. Streets along the three march routes were 
decorated with banners and balloons, and many demonstrators brought their 
dogs along. Nearly all the participants waved flags reading "No mas" ("No 
more"), which local businesses distributed for free.

Marta Diaz, 37 and pregnant with her first child, said she was marching 
because "I think about where my baby is going to live and what his future 
will be." Noting that the child is due "any minute," she added, "Let him be 
born protesting."

Renewed Prospects

The marchers' optimistic mood reflected the renewed prospects for peace in 
Colombia after months of tension and disappointment.

Even before talks with the FARC broke down, the government had refused to 
meet with representatives of the second-largest rebel force, the National 
Liberation Army, or ELN, until it released civilians kidnapped during a 
Mass in Cali and from a domestic airline flight. However, talks with the 
ELN resumed in Cuba a week ago.

"I am convinced that we are living a historic moment and that we cannot 
fail to take advantage of it," government peace commissioner Victor G. 
Ricardo told a small group of foreign reporters last week.

After Sunday's protocol opening, negotiations with the FARC will begin in 
earnest Monday, Ricardo said. The first item on the agenda, he said, will 
be to reaffirm the commitment of both sides to finding a political solution 
to the conflict. 
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