COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT, REBEL LEADER CONTINUING TALKS

Both Sides Express Desire To Avoid War

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Seeking to salvage a faltering peace negotiation,
President Andres Pastrana ventured into a guerrilla-held patch of jungle
Thursday to sit with Colombia's most powerful rebel leader and look for a
way to spare his battered country from more and broader war.

Under a downpour in Colombia's steamy southern jungle, Pastrana huddled
throughout the day with Manuel Marulanda, who has spent more than half his
70 years fighting the government as head of the Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia, known as FARC.

The two embraced gingerly amid camouflaged rebels in the Switzerland-sized
region that Pastrana cleared of security forces two years ago to foster
peace talks, then moved into a thatched pavilion prepared for their
discussions.

"Everyone wants peace,'' Marulanda said in a passing remark to a television
reporter. "Hope is the last thing one loses.''

Last Chance At Peace

The talks, held in the village of Los Pozos about 200 miles south of
Bogota, the capital, gave Pastrana and Marulanda what could be their last
opportunity to revive the stalled peace process, Colombian officials said.

Officials said Pastrana decided to spend the night -- and they interpreted
that as a good sign.

"We have decided to meet and continue this conversation tomorrow,''
Pastrana told reporters with Marulanda at his side. "The meeting was very
productive.''

The meeting comes at a perilous moment for Pastrana's peace campaign, which
has long been viewed with skepticism in Washington. U.S. officials have
promoted a harder line against the FARC, which they say has taken on a
major role in drug smuggling. A key goal of the $1.3 billion U.S. anti-drug
aid package for Colombia, the bulk of which is military hardware and
training for anti-drug battalions, is to eliminate the cocaine production
that is the FARC's chief source of revenue.

The State Department press secretary, Richard Boucher, said in Washington
that "the government of Colombia must be free to make its own decision on
what would yield progress in the peace process. We have always said we
would welcome developments that help Colombia move toward peace, national
reconciliation and progress against narcotics traffic.''

But State Department officials said that while wishing Pastrana well, they
were not holding their breath.

FARC negotiators left the peace talks in November and have refused to
return unless Pastrana addresses the rising power of Colombia's privately
funded paramilitary forces, which battle the guerrillas on the side of the
military, and the effects of Plan Colombia, as the anti-drug strategy is
known. Pastrana, elected in June 1998 on a pledge to end decades of civil
war, must decide today whether to keep the demilitarized zone or
effectively abandon the peace process for a military approach favored by an
increasing number of Colombians.

Steps To Avoid Conflict

But a more bellicose strategy would most likely increase civil conflict in
a country that last year registered an average of 71 violent deaths a day.
Without a Colombian soldier in sight, Pastrana's plunge into guerrilla
territory underscored his desire to keep even an imperfect peace process
alive in light of its harsh alternative.

"He is trying to catch a bull by the horns,'' said Horacio Serpa, leader of
the opposition Liberal Party. "If this process cannot be restarted after a
meeting of these two men, then it is broken beyond repair.''

In recent weeks, Pastrana has been under growing public pressure,
particularly from conservatives, to secure concessions from the FARC in
return for prolonging the safe haven. The FARC has also come under
pressure, primarily from European diplomats and international
intermediaries, to rejoin the talks.

Any guerrilla concession would help counter growing public opinion that the
17,000-member FARC is participating in the process to bide time while it
consolidates its military strength across the country.

Pastrana, who called for the meeting last week, is seeking first to coax
the FARC back to the peace table. He is also hoping to arrange an exchange
of rebel prisoners for captured members of Colombia's security forces,
about 450 of who remain in FARC open-air prisons in the demilitarized zone.

The president is expected to propose that international observers be
allowed to monitor the demilitarized zone for human rights abuses and,
perhaps, help mediate peace negotiations. A similar international presence
was contemplated when Pastrana created the zone in November 1998, but FARC
leaders have resisted.

Marulanda, known as "Sureshot,'' agreed only to meet Pastrana if the agenda
included Plan Colombia, a prisoner-exchange accord and government plans to
battle the paramilitary groups flourishing across the country. With about
8,000 members, the paramilitaries pose perhaps the biggest threat to the FARC.

Mercury News wire services contributed to this report.