| Written by Maria Elena Salinas |
| Monday, November 05 2001 |
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| In a recent assault on a small town, 300 young guerrillas between the ages of 12 and 17 were engaged in a fierce battle with mortar weapons and grenades. As if it were a Nintendo game, they laughed with joy when their victims fell dead on the ground. The children, both boys and girls, were not trained by radical Islamic fundamentalists to die for Allah, but were brainwashed by opportunistic rebels turned terrorists. The fighting was not taking place in the rugged mountains of the Middle East or central Asia, but in a small Andean town in Colombia.
Colombia has the dubious distinction of being the only country in this hemisphere that is home to three armed groups that continue to appear on the State Department's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The smallest is the leftist guerrilla group known as the ELN, Army of National Liberty, whose tactics include blowing up oil pipelines. The newest is a paramilitary organization that calls itself United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia and is responsible for hundreds of massacres of peasants suspected of supporting the rebels. The largest and most dangerous is the FARC, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The 300 young guerrillas who participated in the recent battle in the small town of San Bernardo that left 15 police officers dead belong to the FARC, known for recruiting children and sending them to the front lines.
But that's not all it is known for. The FARC has turned into the country's worst nightmare. It controls 40 percent of the territory in a demilitarized zone roughly the size of Switzerland. It manages a budget of about $80 billion, larger than that of all of the Central American countries combined. It has several lucrative businesses such as drug trafficking, extortion and kidnappings. The FARC tactics range from hijacking a plane full of people and a temple full of churchgoers to what it calls "pesca milagrosa," or "miraculous catch," which establishes checkpoints on roads and abducts people at random. The FARC has even imposed its own laws, including one that charges a war tax to any individual or business with assets above $1 million. He who doesn't pay will be kidnapped for ransom.
The five-decade-old conflict has cost the lives of 1 million Colombians. In a single month, an average of 500 people die as a consequence of a war that has never been officially declared. Last year alone, more than 300,000 people were displaced internally in that country, according to Amnesty International. While the United States does not rule out the use of military force in Colombia in its international war against terrorism, it is also supporting a peace process that has up to now been a failure. For more than three years, the Colombian government has continued to extend the demilitarized zone over and over again. But the killings, the kidnappings and the extortion have not stopped. The peace process gives these rebel groups a legitimacy they do not deserve, but President Andrés Pastrana continues to give in to their demands.
While most Colombians welcome the support of the United States in their fight against drug trafficking and terrorist activities, they do not want to see an Afghan-style military campaign invade their country. Congressman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, believes the U.S. fight against international terrorism will not switch to Colombia as long as Osama bin Laden remains at large. Terrorism in Colombia will be a big issue when Pastrana meets with President George W. Bush Nov. 11. With 13 Americans already killed in the fighting, it's time for the United States to pressure Pastrana to take a stronger position in the negotiations with the rebels. His peace process is not working. I am sure he would not like to be perceived as a leader who harbors terrorists and suffer the consequences of the Taliban. |
