TERRORISM INITIATIVE PUTS FOCUS ON COLOMBIA REBELS

Marxist Guerrillas May Be Focus Of New Military Effort

BOGOTA, Colombia - Pressure is mounting on Colombia to abandon peace talks
in favor of a military solution to its nearly four-decade war against
drug-funded Marxist guerrillas, as the Sept. 11 attacks against the United
States focus worldwide attention on international terrorism.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia is on the State Department's
global list of 29 terrorist groups, in part because of attacks on U.S. oil
interests in Colombia. Now, Sept. 11 has provided the opportunity for
hard-liners in Washington and Colombia to shift the focus on the FARC from
an insurgent movement to a terrorist organization funded by illicit
international drug sales.

"Members of Congress at a senior level are connecting the link between
drugs and terrorism," said a Republican congressional committee staffer
involved in U.S. policy toward the Andean nation, who asked not to be
identified. "As we focus our policy on Colombia, that is going to become a
very important part of the debate."

The United States has earmarked more than $1.3 billion in mostly military
aid to Colombia in the past two years as part of Plan Colombia. That is the
biggest U.S. military effort in Latin America, and because of legislation
prohibiting involvement in counterinsurgency efforts of foreign countries,
it is limited to strengthening the Colombian military's anti-narcotics efforts.

The Defense Department has supplied Colombia with Blackhawk helicopters and
training aimed at eradicating cultivation of coca, the plant from which
cocaine is made.

Viewing the FARC as a terrorist group could pave the way for the United
States to shift from a counter-narcotics focus in Colombia to a more
military-oriented, counter-insurgency position against "terror groups,"
said Arlene Tickner, director of the International Studies Center at the
University of the Andes in Bogota.