Rebel Attacks Imperil Calm in Colombia

Army troops and leftist rebels are engaged in the bloodiest combat in months as fears mount that this country’s four-decade war may again flare into widespread conflict after a long period of relative calm.

Optimism that President Alvaro Uribe had put the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, on the retreat has faded in recent weeks after surprise rebel offensives and military counterattacks that have left at least 61 soldiers dead since the beginning of the year.

In the latest clash, at least 30 rebels and five soldiers were killed in the southern province of Meta after government planes and helicopters attacked jungle hide-outs in what was being called the largest military offensive in months, the Reuters news agency reported Thursday. The army refused to confirm the death toll.

The resurgence in bloodshed sparked criticism that the government had fallen short of its goal to irreparably weaken the FARC.

Uribe and other top officials had all but declared victory in the war against the rebels after a sharp decline in kidnappings, massacres and attacks during the first 2 1/2 years of Uribe’s presidency.

But critics say the president may have spoken too triumphantly too soon.

“I believe that this is the beginning of the end of [the FARC] retreat,” said Alfredo Rangel, head of the Foundation for Security and Democracy, a defense think tank in Bogota, the capital. “They are going to begin to reactivate in a gradual way.”

There are concerns the FARC is springing into action again after waiting for the military to overextend itself under Uribe’s ambitious deployments. Analysts say the group may be trying to discredit Uribe as he campaigns for reelection with claims that his government tamed the rebels and brought stability.

“I think that this year is going to be very, very difficult in terms of public order in Colombia,” Rangel said.

He said Colombia could return to pre-Uribe days, during which the FARC often carried out simultaneous actions around the country, including attacks on military bases, bridges and energy towers and attempts to hold towns hostage.

The FARC was formed in 1964 as a Marxist group aimed at overthrowing the government. Along with the smaller National Liberation Army, or ELN, it has engaged in decades of attacks, including kidnappings of prominent politicians and extortion from citizens.

Uribe is trying to negotiate with the ELN, using Mexico as a mediator, but no results have been reported.

The new round of hostilities broke out Jan. 18 when eight soldiers were killed in combat with the FARC in the province of Tolima, just southwest of Bogota.

On Feb. 1, rebels attacked a naval base along an important drug-transporting route in the southwestern province of Narino, killing 16 marines.

The next day, a military truck was ambushed in a neighboring province, leaving seven soldiers and a civilian dead.

On Feb. 9, across the country in northwestern Antioquia province, 19 soldiers were killed while guarding a town under threat of a FARC attack. The army said the soldiers were killed in an offensive action, but local reports suggested there was an ambush.

The government says the attacks were isolated strokes of luck for the FARC rather than part of any new offensive. Vice President Francisco Santos said Uribe’s Democratic Security plan, aimed at taming all parts of Colombia, had been “tremendously successful.”

“Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater,” Santos said. “Let’s not forget from where we came: the absolute ungovernableness of Colombia.”

The army blamed the setbacks on tactical errors. In the case of Antioquia, it dismissed and later reinstated the general in charge of the area after saying there were communications lapses the day of the attack.

In Narino, the military announced Thursday that three marines had been detained on suspicion of being FARC spies inside the naval base.

The three were part of Uribe’s “peasant soldier” program, which seeks to expand the army rapidly by training troops who then are stationed in their hometowns.

In an interview with the national newspaper El Tiempo on Sunday, armed forces commander Gen. Carlos Alberto Ospina acknowledged that the FARC was still powerful.

“We have always said that the FARC are being defeated, but that they still are not defeated,” Ospina said. “They still have a lot of power.”

Ospina warned Colombians to prepare for new attacks as the FARC attempted to divert troops from its southern stronghold, where the government is waging a high-stakes effort to permanently defeat the rebels.

Over the last year, Uribe has dispatched about 16,000 troops into the south under Plan Patriot to retake an area long held by the FARC and seize its top commanders.

Ospina said no one in the group’s high-level secretariat had yet been taken because they had retreated to the “deepest jungle” out of fear.

But the government has netted some key FARC players, such as Ricardo Palmera, a former FARC peace negotiator also known as Simon Trinidad, who was extradited Dec. 31 to the U.S.

The U.S. has authorized $3.3 billion in aid to Colombia since 2000 to help provide its army with training, tactical advice and helicopters.

Ospina cited the difficulty of maintaining morale in remote jungles where soldiers have been stationed for months.

“We have calculated all of this, and we are paying special attention to the morale and physical renewal of the troops because the areas they are fighting in are very difficult,” he said.