From: "Macdonald Stainsby" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2001 19:53:15 -0700 To: "Leninist International" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [L-I] Colombia Rebel Chief Defends Peace. AP. 3 September 2001. Colombia Rebel Chief Defends Peace. BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombia's top guerrilla chief defended a controversial rebel safe haven on Monday and urged critics of the peace process to be more patient with slow-moving talks. "This confrontation has gone on for 30 or 40 years, and they want results in 15 days. It's impossible," said Manuel Marulanda of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Marulanda, who seldom speaks in public, talked to reporters from the southern town of Los Pozos, inside a Switzerland-sized haven ceded to his group by President Andres Pastrana three years ago. The land deal was made as an incentive to spur serious negotiations with the 16,000-strong FARC, the largest of two leftist rebel groups. But Colombian and U.S. officials have grown impatient with the FARC -- citing the lack of rebel reciprocity, coupled with reports that the group is using its territory to store kidnap victims, stage attacks and carry out drug operations. Secretary of State Colin Powell is scheduled to visit Colombia on Sept. 11-12 -- a trip Marulanda said would help the guerrillas "evaluate" the state of Plan Colombia, a U.S.-backed offensive against drug plantations that are often guarded by the rebels. Pastrana will have to decide in October whether to extend the life of the zone, as he has done on several prior occasions. Marulanda said tying the zone to deadlines and results in the negotiations is "the greatest mistake" the government could make. Marulanda also said he expects the FARC to free three German citizens abducted by guerrillas last month, but he did not give a date. The FARC chief's comments followed a blistering rebel attack last weekend on a village located just outside the safe haven, in which two police officers died and two others were taken prisoner. ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby Rad-Green List: Radical anti-capitalist environmental discussion. http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green ---- Leninist-International: Building bridges in the tradition of V.I. Lenin. http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international ---- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
