Colombia in anti-guerilla offensive

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Posted 8:46AM on Saturday, February 23, 2002

SAN VICENTE DEL CAGUAN, COLOMBIA - Colombian troops entered the main town of a former guerrilla stronghold at dawn Saturday, pulled down a rebel flag in the central plaza and dumped it into a trash can. Colombia's largest guerrilla army has vanished into the tropical jungles of its former sanctuary, fleeing a military offensive launched Thursday. They left behind a statement Friday ruling out more peace talks with the government of President Andres Pastrana, who called off negotiations and ordered airstrikes after the hijacking of a domestic airliner earlier this week. On Saturday, camouflage-clad soldiers - among 13,000 troops mobilized to reclaim the vast territory in southern Colombia - quietly snaked into this humid, lowland town in patrol formation. Roosters crowed as the soldiers filed past the plaza and a church bell chimed the 6 a.m. hour. One soldier pulled down a rebel flag from the plaza's flagpole; others tromped on it with their boots. ``This is a disrespect to Colombia,'' said Pvt. Daladier Torres. ``This flag belongs in the trash.'' Government soldiers moved toward San Vicente and four other towns in the region after capturing a former army base Friday. There are growing fears that civilians could be caught in the cross fire or be forced to evacuate. Neighboring countries went on alert for refugees. The presence of the soldiers did not reassure some residents in San Vicente. ``It makes me a little afraid, because they might ask me if I'm a guerrilla,'' said Isabel Matallana, a maid, as she quietly watched the troops take up positions. Residents of the region have lived under the rule of the rebels since 1998, when Pastrana granted the vast territory to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, as an incentive to end the country's 38-year civil war. But Pastrana angrily abandoned the effort and ordered his forces to reclaim the territory after guerrillas hijacked a civilian airliner Wednesday and kidnapped a senator. The FARC said it was only willing to resume peace talks with ``a future government that shows interest in retaking the road to a political solution to the social and armed conflict.'' Pastrana is barred by law from seeking a consecutive term in May 26 presidential elections. In the main rebel town of San Vicente del Caguan, distraught family members and volunteers evacuated five wounded civilians and three bodies - including those of two children - from a remote jungle hamlet. Relatives said they were victims of an air force bombing. The military said it was investigating and was trying to avoid civilian casualties. As thousands of troops advanced slowly from east and west, officials urged 100,000 residents in the former rebel zone not to panic. But town mayors declared dusk-to-dawn curfews, and some demanded that the government allow international observers into the zone to prevent outlaw right-wing paramilitary forces from killing suspected rebel collaborators. ``We're being stigmatized as guerrillas,'' said San Vicente Mayor Nestor Ramirez. ``We're not guerrillas. We only had to live next to them,'' said Mesetas Mayor Maria Oliva Torres. Army commander Gen. Jorge Enrique Mora told civilians in a radio broadcast that ``the country knows perfectly well that you have had to live under this regime of terror,'' he said. An estimated 5,000 rebels were withdrawing from the townships of Mesetas, La Macarena, Vistahermosa and Uribe and headed for the deep jungle, and most rebel commanders were believed out of the region, the military said. Outside the zone, FARC rebels toppled an electricity tower, destroyed a power plant and damaged a natural gas pipeline, officials said. Many predicted that the FARC was saving its heaviest retaliation for later. ``There will probably be an economic war, an urban war, a war against the oligarchy in the cities like we've never seen before,'' said Carlos Franco, a political analyst and former guerrilla. The FARC says it fights in the name of Colombia's poor. A majority of Colombians believe the rebels have become little more than terrorists, kidnappers and drug traffickers. After flying hundreds of bombing missions against rebel targets, the military airlifted thousands of troops to staging locations surrounding the zone, which is roughly twice the size of New Jersey. Hundreds of paratroopers dropped from low-flying aircraft. In the west, soldiers recaptured an old army base outside San Vicente and slowly marched toward the town of 22,000. To the east, 1,000 soldiers marched on foot into rebel territory. Rebel gunfire wounded three soldiers and struck three helicopters, the military said. There have been no reports of deaths on either the government or guerrilla side. The U.S. State Department said Friday that Washington would increase intelligence sharing with Colombia's military and accelerate deliveries of spare parts for military equipment. Colombian Ambassador Luis Moreno welcomed the announcement but said his government wants permission to use the U.S. equipment already provided for the drug war ``to prevent acts of terrorism.'' Human rights groups worry that brutal right-wing paramilitaries may enter the zone on the army's heels and kill suspected rebel collaborators. Defense Minister Gustavo Bell said the military is fighting all outlawed groups, including the paramilitary army known as the AUC and a smaller leftist rebel group, the ELN.