Pubdate: Thu, 23 Aug 2001
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2001 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: George Gedda, Associated Press Writer

U.S.: COLOMBIA REBELS MISUSED ZONE

WASHINGTON -- The State Department on Thursday accused Colombia's leading 
leftist guerrilla group of using a government-authorized demilitarized zone 
to abuse prisoners, hold kidnap victims, and engage in narcotics trafficking.

Department spokesman Philip Reeker said the guerrilla group, known by its 
Spanish initials as FARC, also reportedly received training in the zone 
from members of the Irish Republican Army.

Reeker praised the efforts of President Andres Pastrana to achieve peace 
but said the FARC rebels "have not made reciprocal efforts to further peace 
and are misusing the demilitarized zone."

A high-level U.S. delegation is expected to raise American concerns about 
the issue with Pastrana during talks Aug. 29-31 in Bogota. It will be the 
first such U.S. mission to Colombia since the Bush administration took office.

A senior U.S. official said there will be no effort to urge Pastrana to 
take back the zone.

Colombian police say three IRA members who were arrested in Colombia on 
Aug. 11 had spent six weeks training rebel combatants in the demilitarized 
zone. One was described by a U.S. official as a top bomb expert.

Another official said Secretary of State Colin Powell may stop in Colombia 
after attending an Organization of American States foreign ministers 
meeting in Peru on Sept. 10-11.

Shortly after taking office in 1998, Pastrana ceded the Switzerland-sized, 
southern Colombian territory to the FARC, hoping the gesture would lead to 
a serious effort to end long decades of civil war.

But there has been virtually no progress in talks with the FARC nor with a 
smaller leftist guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army (ELN). Talks 
with the ELN broke off earlier this month.

The United States has steered clear of involvement in the counterinsurgency 
in Colombia but is playing a significant role in helping Colombian 
counternarcotics efforts.

Congress approved $1.3 billion for Colombia last year, much of it for 
military training and for high-performance helicopters needed to eradicate 
coca, the raw material for cocaine.

The FARC and the ELN complain that Pastrana's government has done little to 
reign in rightist paramilitary forces in Colombia.

Colombian and international monitors accuse the paramilitaries of 
committing most of Colombia's human rights violations.

But both rebel groups have attacked civilian populations and carried out 
kidnappings for ransoms. Both the FARC and the paramilitaries earn huge 
profits in protection payments from cocaine and heroin producers.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart