COLOMBIAN LEADER FLIES TO REBEL AREA IN BID FOR NEW TALKS

Negotiations Toward Ending The 37-year-old Civil War Ended In November. The
U.s. Is Watching With Interest.

LOS POZOS, Colombia - Trying to resuscitate Colombia's shaky peace process,
President Andres Pastrana traveled yesterday to rebel territory, where he
was embraced by guerrilla chief Manuel Marulanda.

But the friendly greeting belied the challenges Pastrana faces in his quest
to end Colombia's 37-year-old war. In his third face-to-face encounter with
Marulanda, Pastrana was trying to get the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, or FARC, to return to formal peace talks it abandoned in November.

Marulanda was demanding that Pastrana crack down on a right-wing
paramilitary group that has been massacring suspected rebel sympathizers,
and scale back an antidrug offensive backed by $1.3 billion in U.S.
military aid. A possible prisoner exchange was also on the table.

Before Pastrana arrived, Marulanda expressed guarded optimism. "Everyone
needs peace. Hope is the last thing one loses," he told a TV reporter.

Pastrana went by plane from Bogota to San Vicente del Caguan, the biggest
town in a Switzerland-size haven he granted the rebels two years ago, and
then traveled by helicopter to the nearby village of Los Pozos.

As two helicopters carrying Pastrana and his entourage approached Los
Pozos, guerrillas set ablaze a wet pile of leaves to identify the landing
zone and the wind direction.

Pastrana stepped off the helicopter and walked straight to Marulanda, who
was clad in combat fatigues, a pistol and machete dangling from his belt.

In an unusual sight, presidential bodyguards toting rifles joined armed
rebels in forming a tight cordon around the pair as they walked in driving
rain through a throng of journalists to a compound for the parley. Pastrana
was accompanied by his peace envoy, Camilo Gomez. Marulanda was surrounded
by his senior commanders.

A female rebel surprised Pastrana by rushing up behind him and putting a
rain poncho around his shoulders. Pastrana smiled in amazement at the
unexpected gesture.

The summit will be closely watched in Washington, which is concerned about
the booming cocaine production that the FARC "taxes," generating millions
of dollars for the rebels. The U.S. government is providing combat
helicopters and training for Colombian troops trying to oust the FARC from
southern Colombia's cocaine-producing plantations.

The rebels broke off peace talks three months ago, complaining about the
U.S.-backed offensive and claiming that the government had not severed its
links with the right-wing United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia.

After eight hours of talks that Pastrana called "very productive," he
decided to spend the night in the rebel haven. The talks are to resume
today, he said.

Amid continuing guerrilla attacks and kidnappings, Colombians and some
members of the military have grown disenchanted about Pastrana's peace
initiatives. He ceded the haven to the FARC in an effort to spur serious
negotiations, but those talks have yielded few results. Pastrana is under
pressure to obtain concessions - at minimum a rebel return to the
negotiating table - for allowing the haven to continue to exist.

A failure to make headway could plunge this South American country into
deeper turmoil. About 3,000 people are killed annually in fighting among
guerrillas, the military, and the right-wing paramilitary, which is
competing for drug profits with the FARC.