COLOMBIA PARAMILITARY GROUP SEIZES 30 VILLAGERS, PRESUMED DEAD

BOGOTA, Colombia, March 30 - A right-wing paramilitary group that
terrorizes villagers began what might be its most audacious assault of the
year by marching into a small southern town on Saturday and seizing 30
people, the governor of Narino Province said today. The villagers, who were
accused of collaborating with leftist guerrillas, are generally believed to
be dead.

Gov. Parmenio Cuellar told a group of reporters here today that the gunmen
arrived in Llorente, a town that had seen little violence until the coca
trade took hold in recent months. Mr. Cuellar also said security forces did
not arrive until Thursday, five days after the 200 to 300 raiders had come
and gone.

The raid was seen by Mr. Cuellar and human rights officials in Bogota as a
byproduct of the extensive American-backed fumigation of coca fields in
neighboring Putumayo Province. Officials in Narino have said the aerial
spraying, which began in December, had displaced coca growers, as well as
leftist rebels and paramilitary gunmen, sending them to the once quiet
region around Llorente.

"We've been saying for eight months that Narino was at the epicenter of the
growing conflict and that Narino and other regions near Putumayo were in
danger of paramilitary or guerrilla incursions," said Jorge Rojas, director
of Codhes, a leading human rights group here. "Nevertheless, no one acted."

Details about what occurred in Llorente remained sketchy. A spokesman for
the military, Col. Paulino Coronado, confirmed that 30 people had been
taken away by members of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia,
including about 25 men. If all 30 are killed, the raid will be the most
violent of dozens of paramilitary massacres this year. In January,
paramilitary forces entered a northern town, Chengue, and killed at least
25 people.

Colonel Coronado confirmed that the military did not respond until
Thursday. He said the units "could not arrive because they were covering
other areas."

The raiders arrived between 4 and 5 a.m. on March 24, rousing people out of
bed and herding residents into a small shabby plaza. A man who was in
Llorente when the gunmen arrived said in a telephone interview today that
he was among the residents led into the plaza at gunpoint.

The raiders remained for six or seven hours, questioning residents and
going through houses, the man said. He added that the gunmen had also
forced a handful of residents to single out those who had collaborated with
the rebels.

"They took them away," the man said. "They put a knife and a gun to them
and told them to move on. It was terrible. This had never happened to us."

Llorente, in a lowland jungle area not far from the Pacific, has gone from
an isolated dirt-poor community to a boomtown in a few months with the
influx of former coca farmers from Putumayo, coca laboratory workers and
others drawn by a robust economy flush with coca money.

There is no permanent presence of the police or military. The closest unit
is a Marine battalion in Tumaco, a 30-minute trip from the seaside. An army
battalion is farther away, in Ipiales in the mountains.

Colonel Coronado said military officials remained unclear over who had
jurisdiction in Llorente, the Marines or the army.

Mr. Rojas said the failure to protect the town or arrive more rapidly
underscored the contentions in a recent United Nations report that harshly
criticized human rights problems in Colombia. The report, by the high
commissioner for human rights, said warnings about paramilitary attacks
against defenseless villagers often went unheeded.

Human rights groups say the paramilitary groups are responsible for most of
the massacres in Colombia.