Colombian Army Attacks Rebel Posts

Colombia plunged into all-out war Thursday, promising a bloody new chapter in the nation’s history that heralds a violent and uncertain future for South America’s oldest democracy.

Air force jets dropped 1,500- and 500-pound bombs on rebel airstrips, camps and supply depots in the Switzerland-sized zone the government ceded to the main guerrilla group three years ago for peace talks.

Ground forces had not entered the zone by late Thursday, although about 13,000 troops, including 5,000 Colombian special forces, were reportedly surrounding the region. Rumors flew as to the timing of an invasion, but there was little doubt that it was coming.

Colombia’s four-sided conflict includes the national government, two leftist rebel armies and right-wing paramilitary forces. The United States has long provided the government with aid to fight the drug trade, but it has become increasingly involved in the war as the rebels and paramilitary groups depend more and more on revenue from drugs.

There were unconfirmed reports, denied by the government, that a stray bomb had killed several people in a hamlet late Thursday.

“We hit our targets with certainty. There were no civilians affected,” said Gen. Fabio Velasco, the head of the Colombian air force. “We are still conducting operations so that the army can enter later.”

Thursday’s actions spelled the end of Colombia’s roller-coaster peace process and signaled the opening of a new surge in violence in this country’s nearly 40-year-old conflict.

President Andres Pastrana abandoned peace talks late Wednesday. He ordered troops to retake the demilitarized zone from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, after a rebel offensive that culminated with the hijacking of an airplane and kidnapping of a senator. In a national address, Pastrana, who had staked his political career on peace, for the first time termed the rebels “terrorists.”

The war seems likely to become far more bloody and dangerous than its previous incarnation, a low-intensity conflict fought in mostly rural areas. About 40,000 people have died during the last decade.

Three years of talks had produced almost no results, frustrating many in this nation of 40 million people. A recent rebel offensive that included attacks against reservoirs, electrical transmission towers, restaurants and shopping areas angered Colombians.

The first round of Colombia’s presidential election is scheduled for May, further imperiling what small chance remains for renewed talks. Conservative candidate Alvaro Uribe, who has taken a hard line against the guerrillas, leads his rivals by a 2-1 margin. He favors direct U.S. intervention in the conflict.

Both the military and rebels used the three years of talks to build up their forces. The Colombian army now has nearly 50,000 professional soldiers, compared with about 18,000 rebels for the FARC.

The U.S. has provided nearly $2 billion in aid to Colombia in the last few years, most of it to train troops and supply helicopters to fight the drug trade. Colombia produces 90% of the cocaine consumed in the U.S., and money from the illegal drug trade is a main source of rebel income.

The troops and equipment are supposed to be used only for counter-narcotics purposes, though Colombian and U.S. officials have recently indicated a willingness to loosen those restrictions in some cases.

In addition, the Bush administration has included $98 million in next year’s budget to train and equip troops for direct military confrontation with rebels that attack a pipeline used by Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum.

The FARC allegedly received instruction in bomb-making from rebels from the Irish Republican Army. As talks dragged on, they oversaw a flourishing cocaine trade in the zone they control and a sharp increase in the amount of land growing drug crops.

A FARC commander, speaking earlier in the week in a town a few hours south of the zone, said the army was ready to retake Colombia by force.

“We are well trained. We are prepared to die. And we are ready,” said Comandante Jhony, a commander in the FARC’s 49th Front.

It was unclear what effect the renewed hostilities would have on Colombia’s other armed groups. The army is also engaged in a low-intensity war with about 4,000 rebels from the National Liberation Army, or ELN.

The biggest unknown is the country’s right-wing paramilitary army, which has leaped from a few hundred men in the early 1990s to an estimated 11,000.

The paramilitary groups, long linked with the Colombian army, are responsible for the majority of massacres of civilians. Paramilitary leader Carlos Castano has said he is prepared to enter the zone to help purge it of rebels.

Pastrana received nearly unanimous approval, both nationally and internationally. U.S. State Department officials said they supported Pastrana’s choice to invade.

Residents of a small village called the mayor’s office in San Vicente del Caguan, a gritty town that is the rebel zone’s de facto capital, Thursday afternoon to say a bomb had killed six to eight people and wounded several others, including children. The hamlet is near a large rebel encampment, locals said.

Neither doctors nor government officials were able to reach the hamlet, located about three hours away. One nun, her face twisted in worry, shuttled among city offices, begging for help.

“We are trying to find a doctor right now, but we have not been able to do anything,” said Samuel Sanchez, the local human rights director.

There were few signs of the rebels. They have said repeatedly that they would peacefully hand over the zone’s five cities if talks ended, but there was widespread speculation that they would fight for the surrounding jungle.

Air force officials reported seeing rebels moving through extensive trench networks. FARC soldiers were also seen burning documents and papers at an office near this town.

Guerrillas left behind dozens of stolen cars and motorcycles, throwing some into local rivers. Local people stripped many of the vehicles, most of them luxury four-wheel-drives stolen by FARC rebels and brought to the zone, a vast and mostly unpopulated region of dirt roads, thick jungle and rolling hills.

“The guerrillas are going to engage in small but significant and dispersed military actions,” predicted Alfredo Rangel, a leading defense analyst. “The big offensive will come once the population and the military have dropped their guard.”

The town itself was in the grip of panic. More than 30 national government officials who had been involved in peace talks were evacuated on emergency flights, leaving many people fearing for their safety.

Trucks and buses crammed with furniture, suitcases and chickens could be seen on roads leading out of the zone.

“A lot of people have taken off,” said cabdriver Carlos Torres. “There is no reason to stay. They’ll kill you like they do a chicken or a rooster.”

Meanwhile, the mayor’s office started planning for the arrival of up to 2,500 refugees from outlying villages. The town was under a 7 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew, and alcohol sales were banned.

Town officials decided to convert the tents at the former site of peace talks into emergency shelters for the refugees.

“The biggest worry in the zone right now is the safety of its citizens,” said Nestor Leon Ramirez, the mayor. “People feel like they have been abandoned because they have seen no sign of the [national] government’s presence.”

Members of the town’s civilian police force, created as a compromise with the FARC, found themselves isolated and alone. They said they wanted to be evacuated, since their contacts with guerrillas would make them prime targets for the paramilitary groups.

‘We feel totally abandoned. Where is the government?” said Oscar Morales, a 27-year-old member of the unarmed force. “We are exposed to every kind of danger.”