COLOMBIA AT A CROSSROADS

President Pastrana Decides Whether To Continue Peace Talks

Colombian President Andres Pastrana must decide this week whether to
continue failed peace talks with the FARC, his nation's largest leftist
insurgency. Retreating from the peace platform that he long has advocated
would not be easy. But he must seriously consider the message the FARC has
sent in nearly three years of fruitless talks and increasingly ruthless
guerrilla attacks on civilians.

If the FARC truly desires peace, it has a peculiar way of showing it. The
FARC's proclivity for violence was shown most recently in incidents last
weekend. They booby-trapped roads to block an aspiring presidential
candidate from entering a demilitarized zone created for peace talks. And
FARC guerrillas are believed responsible for the murder of Colombia's
former minister of culture.

Mr. Pastrana ceded the demilitarized zone to the FARC in 1998 as an
incentive for peace talks. Authorization for this sanctuary, which is about
one-third the size of Florida, has been extended repeatedly since. Without
another extension, the FARC zone will officially expire Oct. 7. Government
troops would then be free to reenter the area and pursue FARC guerrillas.

The pressure never has been greater on Mr. Pastrana to dismantle what
Colombians call ``Farclandia,'' and there is good reason. Using the lawless
zone as a safe haven, the FARC has increased its recruits and profits from
narco-trafficking and kidnapping. From here, the group stages attacks on
civilians, trains new guerrillas, hides kidnap victims and cultivates coca.
Its leaders, meanwhile, consistently have blocked the peace process.

As if the FARC's lack of good faith weren't evident enough, three reputed
members of the Irish Republican Army were arrested after leaving the FARC
zone in August. The three are suspected of training FARC guerrillas in
urban-terrorism tactics. One IRA operative lived in Cuba, another safe
haven for terrorists.

Now the murder of Consuelo Araujo, a popular former culture minister and
the wife of Colombia's inspector general, could end the peace talks for
good. Kidnapped last week by the FARC, she was found in a mountainous area
with two bullets in her head on Saturday.

Describing her killing as a ``vile and cowardly act,'' President Pastrana
vowed to reevaluate the peace process. ``The nation is tired of the
kidnappings, the systematic attacks on civilians,'' he said.

Goodwill clearly isn't motivating the FARC. The group will wage dirty war
as long as it can continue to finance itself through lawlessness and
violence. U.S. military aid fortunately has bolstered the capabilities of
Colombia's armed forces. Whatever Mr. Pastrana decides, U.S. aid improves
the odds that the FARC and other insurgents will be forced to lay down arms
- -- whether at a negotiating table or in defeat.