Washington
23 July 2008
Colombia's defense minister says the country's leftist rebels aregreatly weakened and should negotiate an end to the decades-old civilwar while they still have a position from which to barter. VOA'sMichael Bowman reports, the minister made the comments in Washington,where he had scheduled talks with U.S. military officials.
Recentmonths have brought a flood of welcome news for Colombia's governmentin its battle against rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces ofColombia, known as FARC.
March saw a successful cross-borderraid on a FARC camp in Ecuador that netted valuable rebel computerfiles. In May, reports surfaced of the death of the group's commanderManuel Marulanda. Most recently, Colombian forces tricked the rebelsinto handing over 15 long-held hostages, including Franco-Colombianpolitician Ingrid Betancourt.
Defense Minister Juan ManuelSantos says the rebels no longer control vast swaths of territory, areexperiencing significant command and communications problems, and havelost whatever legitimacy they may have once enjoyed among certainsectors of Colombian society. But he says FARC continues to refuse tonegotiate with the government of President Alvaro Uribe.
"Theyhave never wanted to negotiate," said Santos. "They are the ones whohave said, 'We do not talk with President Uribe.' If they do not seizethe moment, the opportunity [to negotiate], in a year, two years theywould have no bargaining chips. Because the momentum is on our side."
Santosstressed, the rebels are not yet defeated, and pressure must bemaintained on them until the battle is won decisively, or until theyagree to lay down their arms and rejoin civil society.
Thedefense minister noted it was not long ago that much of the country hadbeen lost to the rebels and Colombia came perilously close to beingdeclared a failed state. He said President Uribe deserves credit forsuccessful military campaigns, the return of law and order in Colombia,and the professionalization of security forces, including a renewedfocus on human rights.
"The respect for human rights: the waythe military treats the population," Santos said. "Wehave been telling them in every way possible, 'Your success depends onthe approval, the support that the population gives the military.' Today, and I am very proud to say this, the most popular institution inColombia, by far, is our military and police."
Yet human rightsgroups say Colombia's record under President Uribe is far from stellar,noting that extra-judicial killings by security forces remaincommonplace. The Washington Office on Latin America notes that morethan 300 such killings were reported in Colombia last year.
"Colombiais not going to be resolving its deep-rooted issues, which arebasically economic and land issues and social inequality at heart,through militarization," Gimena Sanchez, the group's senior associatefor Colombia. "In the six years or so that President Uribe has been inpower, we have seen over a million people become newly internallydisplaced. And so we ask, if the military policy has been successful,why has it not prevented the displacement of all these people?"
Inhis remarks, Defense Minister Santos admitted thorny human rightsissues remain unresolved in his country, but maintained thatsignificant progress has been made and the country is on the rightpath.