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It had to happen. The Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC), the Marxist guerrilla forces that long ago turned into a mercenary army at the service of drug traffickers, virtually asked for it.
When, after having agreed with president Andrés Pastrana exactly one month before to restart peace negotiations, the FARC hijacked a domestic airliner last Wednesday 20 and kidnapped a senator onboard, Pastrana formally ended the peace process and ordered the country's armed forces to attack the zone in southern Colombia, about the size of Switzerland, that he gave to the rebel group in 1998 to encourage peace negotiations. Colombian warplanes bombed guerrilla camps and air strips in the rebel enclave on Thursday with 500-pound bombs, as a prelude to invasion by troops and tanks.
The first question raised by this action is what took Pastrana so long to order it.
Observers in Colombia and abroad, as well as regular Colombians themselves as shown by opinion polls, have for a long time believed that the president was grasping at a peace process that offered no hope. It was clear that the FARC leadership was happy with the fiefdom it had carved for itself in one third of Colombia, where it collected funds through extortion and kidnappings and was handsomely paid by the drug cartels for acting as their praetorian guard. For a long time now the Colombian guerrilla has not been interested in transforming itself into a political movement, which is what drew the El Salvador guerrilla to eventually negotiate a peace agreement in 1992. And a long string of gratuitous murders and other violent actions by the FARC which regularly sabotaged the peace process were seen as the guerrilla leadership's own way of keeping their rank and file from leaning towards it.
The second question raised by Pastrana's decision is whether, having reluctantly-by his own words-decided to go ahead with military action, he has the guts to stick to it even though there might be initial setbacks and the civilian population might be put at risk.
The military said it was mobilizing more than 13,000 soldiers from bases located on three sides of the guerrilla safe haven. The mayor of the largest town inside the zone, San Vicente del Caguan, said residents there are afraid of becoming trapped in fighting-and they probably will be.
Nevertheless, Pastrana's announcement was greeted enthusiastically in the rest of Colombia. In Bogota, the nation's capital, drivers honked their horns to show their approval. El Tiempo, the country's most influential newspaper, said in an editorial that, "given the challenge the FARC present to the country, there is no other alternative than facing them with the arms of the republic," adding, however, that "we shouldn't fool ourselves: very difficult days are coming. The terrorist wave of the last few weeks is nothing more then the prelude of what is ahead." The Bush administration supports the Colombian president's decision. "We've always expressed our support for President Pastrana," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
"We've always said these are decisions for him to make."
Yes. But other decisions lie ahead in which the Bush administration may have to play a role.
An official who did not want to be identified said the administration is reviewing measures it might take to help Colombia within the limits imposed by the Congress. As U.S. military assistance is generally limited by law to assisting Colombia's counternarcotics campaign, among the options under consideration are enhanced intelligence sharing and a speedup in the delivery of spare parts for U.S. helicopters used by the Colombian military in the drug fight.
The Bush administration also may take steps to permit increased aerial spraying of narcotics fields-something the Colombians have been seeking because it could impair the rebels' war-fighting capability, as they derive much of their income from the drug trade. And the administration has already asked Congress to authorize $98 million to train and arm a Colombian army brigade to protect a vital oil pipeline from rebel attacks.
"We are still operating under the existing guidance which is U.S. assistance to Colombia is limited to counternarcotics," U.S. Southern Command spokesman Steve Lucas said. But the U.S. Congress had expressed interest in broadening the U.S. military role in Colombia.
The U.S. government has labeled the FARC a terrorist organization, leaving open the possibility it may later provide direct counterinsurgency aid. Now that President Pastrana has decided to treat it as such, the Bush administration should follow its policy to its logical conclusion and help Colombia to get rid of the oldest and largest guerrilla movement in Latin America.
Claudio Campuzano (claudio-campuzano@hotmail.com) is U.S, correspondent for the Latin American newsweekly Tiempos del Mundo and editorial page editor of the New York daily Noticias del Mundo. He writes weekly for World Tribune.com