COLOMBIA MAY TAKE HARD LINE WITH REBELS

Officials Urged To Rethink Peace Talks In Aftermath Of Terror Attacks On U.S.

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA: Pressure is growing 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 on the United
States focus worldwide attention on international terrorism.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) 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 helped 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.

The United States has earmarked more than $1.3 billion -- most of it
military aid -- for 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, the aid is limited to strengthening the Colombian
military's anti-narcotics efforts.

The Defense Department has supplied Colombia with Blackhawk helicopters and
special training aimed at eradicating the cultivation of coca, the plant
from which cocaine is made. Much of Colombia's coca is grown in zones
controlled by Marxist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary forces.

The FARC's actions in recent months have helped fuel the shifting
definition from insurgency to terror.

The Colombian government said on Aug. 11 it had arrested three members of
the Irish Republican Army who had been in FARC territory allegedly
providing urban terrorism training.

Also, the Reuters news agency reported on Sept. 24 that Colombian security
forces had a taped broadcast by FARC military commander Jorge Briceno
calling for strikes on U.S. interests at home and abroad. In 1999, the FARC
killed three U.S. human rights workers.