Rebel Groups Launch Attacks in Colombia

Marxist rebels bade farewell to President Ernesto Samper in attacks beginning late Monday that encompassed half this country’s provinces and left at least 70 combatants dead and scores wounded.

Latin America’s two oldest guerrilla groups marked the last week of the beleaguered president’s term by attacking the main port city and firing mortars at a major anti-drug base, officials said, as well as by repeating terrorist tactics that have become almost routine in the violence-torn nation, such as wrecking oil installations and blocking highways.

Pre-inaugural displays of violence have become traditional during the three decades of guerrilla war here. Nevertheless, Colombians were dismayed by the show of force because both guerrilla groups have agreed to talk peace with President-elect Andres Pastrana, who takes office Friday amid widespread hopes for a new, more conciliatory era.

“This is very serious for the .Wace process,” police commander Gen. Rosso Jose Serrano told reporters Tuesday morning. “The guerrillas owe an explanation to the country.”

As of late Tuesday, the insurgents had not yet issued communiques to explain their actions.

“We are a country at war, and this happens as a consequence,” Pastrana said at a Tuesday morning news conference. He asserted that the attacks were directed not against him but toward Samper. Both rebel factions have repeatedly declared their belief that Samper’s government was illegitimate because his 1994 campaign was financed in part by multimillion-dollar donations from drug traffickers.

In the latest round of bloodshed, at least 60 members of the police and army died as the insurgents blasted army bases with rockets and mortars, set off car bombs and attacked villages. Six rebels also were killed, officials said. Radio stations were reporting seven civilians dead, but those figures could not be confirmed.

Six police officers were captured by the rebels, and an additional 25 soldiers and police officers were missing and feared to be in rebel hands.

The urban attacks appeared to die down by dawn Tuesday, but fighting continued through the day in 15 rural locations, army spokesman Cpl. Luis Enrique Hernandez said. Defense Minister Gilberto Echeverri Mejia said, “There are guerrilla attacks on all fronts and from all sides.”

The apparently coordinated offensive by the Cuban-inspired National Liberation Army, or ELM, and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, followed several weeks of sporadic attacks by both groups. In June, the militias had agreed to engage in peace negotiations. Military experts have warned that the rebels are trying to gain territory and provoke fear to strengthen their positions at the negotiating table.

The rebels have proposed that they be granted virtual autonomy in the regions they now control, estimated at 40% to half of the country.

Six military bases--including the U.S.-backed Miraflores anti-drug base, the site of a major guerrilla victory a year ago--were attacked in the rebel strongholds of Putumayo and Guaviare, both cocaine-producing southern provinces. Four car bombs and three smaller bombs exploded in Medellin, the major northwestern city, and Cucuta, in the northeast.

A police station was destroyed in the Pacific Coast port of Buenaventura, the transit point for nearly two-thirds of Colombia’s foreign trade. Port activities did not appear to be affected by the violence.