Pubdate: Tue, 14 Dec 1999
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 1999 The Washington Post Company
Address: 1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071
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Author: Steven Dudley, Special to The Washington Post

REBELS HIT COLOMBIAN BASE NEAR FRONTIER

Attack Prompts Worry Over Panama Security

BOGOTA, Colombia, Dec. 13 - Left-wing rebels overran a Colombian naval base
and police station 15 miles from the Panamanian border, killing at least 45
marines, as well as one policeman, a regional official said today.

The attack renewed fears of a growing guerrilla presence along the
Panamanian border as the United States prepares to hand over control of the
Panama Canal zone to the Panamanian government and withdraw its remaining
troops.

Using homemade gas cylinders, mortars and grenades, more than 600 rebels
from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) overtook the police
station and the small naval post housing 115 marines in Sunday's attack in
the small town of Jurado, along Colombia's Pacific coast, said the
official, Luis Gilberto Murillo, governor of Choco state.

The Rev. Bernardo Nino, the local priest in Jurado, told national radio
today that he had negotiated with the rebels for the release of 53 marines
and 16 policemen, at least 25 of whom were injured in the battle. Rebels
continued to hold three marines, Nino said. Navy officials, who said that
23 of their own had died, also said 42 guerrillas were killed during the
fighting.

The clash, one of the most successful FARC attacks against the Colombian
military in months, came just two days before Tuesday's formal ceremony in
Panama marking the transfer of the Panama Canal into Panamanian hands,
which officially occurs on Dec. 31.

The U.S. government already has transferred its regional military
headquarters, known as the Southern Command, from Panama to Miami and
established air force bases in the Caribbean and Ecuador to replace Howard
Air Force Base in Panama. As the U.S. military has pulled out, U.S.
officials and politicians have expressed concern about the Panamanian
National Guard's ability to fight off the guerrillas, who have long been
active in the border region.

Panama's foreign minister, Jose Miguel Aleman, today played down Sunday's
guerrilla assault, saying his government would not close its border with
Colombia.

U.S. aid to Colombia ballooned to $289 million this year and could reach
$500 million next year largely as a result of the 15,000-strong FARC's
alleged activity in drug trafficking. U.S. officials said the rebels make
as much as $600 million per year by taxing drug traffickers who export
their product from jungle regions like Choco. U.S. legislation prohibits
the United States from giving Colombia aid for counterinsurgency purposes,
but the increased activity of rebels in drug trafficking has allowed
Congress to classify the aid as anti-narcotics assistance.

Colombian guerrillas have been operating along the Colombian-Panamanian
border for years, running guns from Central America through the Darien--a
dense, uninhabited jungle in Panama. Recently, right-wing paramilitary
groups, who have also battled Colombian government forces and are allegedly
involved in the drug trade themselves, successfully pushed the FARC from
large portions of the banana-growing area where Sunday's attack took place.

Eduardo Pizarro, a Colombian political scientist who has written several
books on the left-wing rebel group said it may be making a bid to retake
the region, known as Uraba, because its other gun-running routes through
Ecuador and Venezuela have been blocked.

"One of their strategic goals is to recapture Uraba," Pizarro said. "above
all so they can launch long military assaults instead of the smaller,
traditional guerrilla actions that are more a sign of weakness than strength."

According to the Colombian army, Uraba is the home to eight FARC units
totaling about 1,600 guerrillas. To combat them, the military has two
battalions and three small naval posts like the one attacked in Jurado.
More than 1,000 right-wing paramilitary fighters are also said to be
operating in the area, at times with the support of the Colombian armed
forces, according to human rights observers.

After the clash, military officials sought to highlight the role played by
a new 5,000-man rapid deployment force inaugurated earlier this month. The
army sent more than 800 men from the unit to Jurado, but a marine who took
part in the battle said the troops arrived more than 24 hours after the
guerrillas attacked. An army representative said poor weather conditions
delayed the unit's arrival.

Since Thursday, the FARC has attacked police stations in five Colombian
towns, killing 16 policemen and taking another 19 captive. According to the
Colombian military, at least two of the attacks originated in a
16,000-square-mile area in southern Colombia, close to the Ecuadoran
border, that government troops withdrew from earlier this year to help
jump-start government peace talks with the rebels. No agreements have been
reached since the two sides began discussing the agenda for the talks in
October. Late tonight, reports surfaced of attacks on three more villages
in eastern Colombia.

On two occasions the guerrillas briefly broke off talks. More recently,
military officials have complained that the rebel group is using the area
to store weapons, set up drug processing labs and secret airstrips, and
launch attacks.

The most recent rebel offensive came despite pleas by the government for a
Christmas cease-fire. Both the FARC, the smaller National Liberation Army ,
and right-wing paramilitary groups have yet to respond favorably to the
call for a truce between Dec. 15 and Jan. 15.
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