Pubdate: Thu, 16 Nov 2000
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2000 The Miami Herald
Contact:  One Herald Plaza, Miami FL 33132-1693
Fax: (305) 376-8950
Website: http://www.herald.com/
Forum: http://krwebx.infi.net/webxmulti/cgi-bin/WebX?mherald
Author: Juan O. Tamayo
Bookmark: Colombia http://www.mapinc.org/colombia.htm

COLOMBIAN COCA-GROWING AREA SHAKEN BY A GUERRILLA BLOCKADE

PUERTO ASIS, Colombia -- When an army convoy finally delivered 325 tons of 
desperately needed food to this guerrilla-blockaded Amazon town, thousands 
of residents packed the dusty streets to cheer.

Grudgingly. ``It took them more than 50 days to get here,'' seamstress 
Jannette Gomez complained even as she applauded the 600 soldiers who 
guarded the convoy. ``If this is what it's going to be like, I don't want 
Plan Colombia.'' What began as a rebel ban on all road traffic in the 
southern state of Putumayo has erupted into a harsh test for Colombia's 
military and an ominous preview of a U.S.-backed offensive against coca 
fields due to start here in January. In effect, the blockade declared Sept. 
24 by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, stole a march on 
Plan Colombia, sparking a storm of food shortages, refugees and bloodshed 
before the army was ready for it. ``There's a total state of desperation,'' 
acknowledged Gen. Mario Montoya, the region's top commander. ``But we are 
getting in reinforcements every day, and our aim is to retake control of 
Putumayo.'' FARC rebels have torched 65 vehicles and killed eight drivers 
- -- burning two alive -- for violating the blockade.

The action has paralyzed commercial traffic in an area of 350,000 people 
that is one-third the size of Florida.

Troubles Mount

Electricity has been cut off for a month; this town of 38,000 is virtually 
empty of cars because gasoline has soared from $1.75 to $7.50 a gallon; and 
hospital officials report rising cases of diarrhea and hepatitis because of 
a shortage of water-treatment chemicals. White flags fly from homes, 
businesses and motorcycles amid rumors of a possible FARC attack on the 
town, and police brought in a 300-man riot control unit over the weekend, 
fearing an outbreak of looting. A military airlift has delivered 600 tons 
of food to the region, but thousands of families are eating at communal 
kitchens supplied by the airlift, and police are making do with 
U.S.-supplied military rations. FARMERS' EXODUS About 1,000 farm families 
have fled to towns such as Puerto Asis, and an estimated 500 people have 
hitched rides aboard the departing military airplanes to escape the crisis. 
Coca processing has almost stopped because of the shortage of both 
chemicals and field hands needed to turn coca leaves into coca paste and 
later cocaine, leaving thousands of families without an income, coca 
growers say. ``There is not one peso in town,'' restaurant owner Araceli 
Bustamante said. ``Farmers are walking in and offering barter -- a chicken 
for rice, a pig for a gallon of gasoline.

But how many pigs can one accept?''

Government Lament

``The FARC has kidnapped the 350,000 people of Putumayo,'' Vice President 
Gustavo Bell Lemus complained last week. ``They are holding these people 
hostage because they want us to stop Plan Colombia.'' Actually, the initial 
reason behind the FARC blockade was far more sordid -- a fight for control 
of the heart of hearts of Colombia's cocaine industry, which now exports 90 
percent of the world's cocaine. Nearly half of Colombia's coca fields lie 
in Putumayo, and about half of the state's total -- 64,220 acres -- lies in 
the Guamues Valley, an area 28 miles west of Puerto Asis that the FARC has 
dominated since the 1980s. The blockade has made Putumayo residents angry 
at both the guerrillas, for enforcing it, and the government and the 
military, for their slow reactions.

``People are really p----d off,'' a FARC rebel manning a roadblock reported 
to superiors in a radio conversation Saturday monitored by security forces. 
Came the reply: ``Anyone who rebels, who protests, take their cars, their 
bags, everything, and tell them to get out and never come back.'' Manuel 
Alzate, the mayor of Puerto Asis, has strong views about what he sees as 
the government's failure to overcome the blockade. ``It is the FARC that is 
imposing the blockade, but it is the government's responsibility to protect 
and help the people, and the government is doing absolutely nothing,'' he said.

Slow Journey

The army convoy that brought 18 trucks loaded with food on Saturday, the 
first land caravan to reach this town since the blockade started, took four 
days to cover its 125-mile trip. Yet FARC rebels remain just a two-minute 
boat ride from Puerto Asis, armed and in uniform as they play pool and chat 
up the girls in Puerto Vega, a hamlet with a dozen one-room shops and 
houses across the Putumayo River. Montoya, the regional army commander, 
dismisses the FARC's presence in Puerto Vega as unimportant. The army, he 
says, is in the midst of a major troop buildup designed to ``retake control 
of Putumayo and drive these thugs out.'' His forces doubled from 2,000 to 
4,000 since Sept. 24, and he received 1,500 more troops this weekend, most 
from special counterguerrilla units, to launch an offensive against the 
estimated 1,200 FARC rebels in the region. Army officers say the roads are 
now secured. ``But put that in quotation marks,'' said Col. Diaz of the 
24th Brigade, ``because with the number of men we have, we would wear 
ourselves out if we tried to control all the roads all the time.''

Difficult Task

Even senior commanders admit that Colombia's 146,000-member military is 
simply too small to defeat an estimated 15,000 FARC rebels, about 5,000 
from the National Liberation Army, known as ELN, and about 5,000 members of 
paramilitary forces. ``It is scientifically proven that if you want to win 
a guerrilla war, you need a 10-1 ratio over the guerrillas,'' Montoya said. 
``You might need fewer men if you have better quality and technology, but 
we would still need more than what we have if we want to win.'' Still, 
Montoya remains hopeful. ``You know how in the movies the good guys are 
losing until the last five minutes?'' he said in an interview. ``Well, in 
the end we will win, because we are the good guys.''
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager