| Written by Maria Elena Salinas |
| Monday, March 04 2002 |
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| Bogota, Colombia -- For three years and four months, Colombian President Andres Pastrana thought he had the right formula for peace: Have a dialogue with the largest and deadliest guerrilla group in the country, stop the violence, end the war, come out a hero, and maybe even earn a Nobel Peace Prize. But all he got in three years and four months was empty promises from the rebels, more kidnappings, torture, extortion and massacres of poor, innocent victims. It took Pastrana most of his presidency to realize that while he was talking peace, the guerrillas were playing war. Now he is finally playing the war game, but it might be too late.
Six days after he declared open war on the rebels, Pastrana sat down with me for an interview in Casa Nariño, the presidential palace in Bogota. He was an hour late and seemed agitated. It was to be expected. He had a lot to deal with: Rebels had just sabotaged the water supply of a small town, blown up electrical towers -- leaving thousands without power -- and kidnapped a presidential candidate.
For about 20 minutes, Pastrana answered my questions. "Will you negotiate the release of kidnapped presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt?" "She acted irresponsibly by going into a dangerous area, but I will work hard for her release, as well as the release of more than 2,000 others held hostage," he replied. "Will you ask the U.S. for military intervention?" "Never," he said. "What we want is to use the resources the U.S. has provided through Plan Colombia for the war against drugs in the war against terrorism." Pastrana told me he had been informed by the Bush administration that it is working with Congress to achieve that goal -- something that I feel the U.S. government should do if it is serious about the war against terrorism, wherever it might be.
But what I really wanted to know is why he waited so long to take decisive action. Pastrana ended the peace talks when rebels hijacked a passenger plane, forced it to land on a highway and kidnapped a member of Congress. It was that precise day, the president told me, that the government was negotiating the issue of kidnappings with the rebels. His response was to order the armed forces to attack the rebels and take back a demilitarized zone he gave them as a safe haven during the peace talks. And he also began referring to them as terrorists.
"Why call them terrorists now," I asked, "when they have been committing terrorist acts for years?" "I am not labeling them as terrorists -- they defined themselves as terrorists," he said. Pastrana told me that the world now sees the rebels for what they really are: a terrorist group financed by cocaine trafficking, the same way al-Qaida is a terrorist group financed by heroin. However, much of the world already knows this. The FARC (Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces) is on the U.S. State Department's list of terrorist groups, along with another Colombian leftist rebel group and right-wing paramilitaries.
So why did Pastrana wait so long? Why did he give the rebels a piece of the country on a silver platter? Why did he continue to give concessions to the rebels for more than three years, getting nothing in return? "Because the only way to end a war is with peace," he said. "Because I believed in Marulanda (the rebel leader of the FARC), I believed in his word, but most of all I believe in peace." I did not need to ask Pastrana if he would do it all over again. He said he would, even though he expended virtually all of his political capital on the peace process and even though his popularity level plunged to a paltry 12 percent.
There was anger, pride, frustration, but mostly sadness in his eyes as he spoke. There is no doubt that President Andres Pastrana is a man of strong convictions, dedicated to the cause of peace. With only six months left in office, history will decide if his legacy will be that of a man who sought peace at all costs or one whose eternal patience and good intentions led to more bloodshed. |
