Colombian Paramilitary Leaders Announce Peace Talks

Paramilitary commanders on Tuesday announced that they would enter formal peace negotiations with the Colombian government aimed at disbanding their right-wing death squads, responsible for some of the worst atrocities in this country’s bloody civil conflict.

In a communique signed by the government peace commissioner and five prominent paramilitary leaders, including Carlos Castano, who is wanted in the United States on charges of trafficking cocaine, the paramilitary fighters set a timeline for a peace process and vowed to support the government’s struggle to clamp down on a booming drug trade.

“The United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia commits itself to disbanding the totality of its members in a gradual process that will start before the end of the year,” the communique read, “and that must end by Dec. 31, 2005, at the latest.”

The communique did not specify whether Castano and others might receive some kind of amnesty regarding the brutal massacres that have become their group’s hallmark, or whether pending extradition orders against them might be lifted.

Several paramilitary factions have split with Castano and refused to participate in the exploratory talks that led to Tuesday’s announcement.

As news of the paramilitary peace process swept across the country, President Alvaro Uribe was transferring his government to Colombia’s war-ravaged eastern savannas in a display of control along the front lines of his country’s 38-year conflict.

Trading his elegant presidential palace for a fortified military base on the edge of a parched cattle town, Uribe plans to run his government for three days from a field office here in Arauca -- in a lawless region where entrenched rebel units and their paramilitary foes are fighting over contraband routes, cattle and government oil royalties.

“This is an act of patriotism,” said government spokesman Ricardo Galan. “This is to show that nowhere is off-limits to the government.”

For years, Colombians have accused their leaders of abandoning large swaths of impoverished farmland to rebel bands and paramilitary warlords who extort money and livestock from locals, and kill those who get in their way.

More than any other area, Arauca province has come to represent a testing ground for the hawkish security policies that swept Uribe into office a year ago.

But as a sign of the problems that still grip this region, and the country, it was unclear whether Uribe would even set foot outside the 18th Brigade military base that is serving as his temporary headquarters here.

While residents were pleased the president had come so far to address their problems, many were too frightened of reprisals by illegal armed groups to use full names during interviews.

“I like this government. This government is strict. The president has come to Arauca without fear to show his face, to show people he wants to do something for the country,” said a 49-year-old homemaker who identified herself as Aida. Standing outside a mechanic’s shop, she said rebels had gunned down one of her sons for drinking a beer with a soldier four years ago.

As she spoke, about 2,000 government troops patrolled the streets of Arauca, the capital of Arauca state. Elite troops on motorcycles, armed with grenade launchers and automatic rifles, swerved around cows and bicycles on roads leading into town while fighter jets screeched above the shady central plaza.

Uribe arrived at the army barracks in a Black Hawk helicopter in the afternoon and immediately ducked into a security meeting.

U.S. involvement in Arauca has also been on the rise, since U.S. lawmakers approved $98 million last year to train Colombian units guarding the Cano Limon pipeline, operated in part by Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corp. The pipeline is a frequent target of rebels.