PASTRANA'S DECISION

Time for Colombia to call the FARC guerrillas' bluff.

After more than two years of dead-end dialogue with Colombia's largest
communist guerrilla army, President Andres Pastrana must decide today
whether to extend the life of the huge safe-haven zone conceded to the
guerrillas two years ago in the hope they'd engage in meaningful peace
talks. These Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC in the Spanish
initials, have not reciprocated.

So it is appropriate that Mr. Pastrana demand cooperation in return for an
extension -- or else turn loose the Colombian army. The FARC must agree to
strict rules of conduct and independent monitors in the zone. Otherwise,
maintaining the safe haven only rewards these guerrillas' bad behavior and
bad faith. Even if the FARC breaks off negotiations, that's little different
than what it has done repeatedly to date.

Understandably, President Pastrana is reluctant to abandon a peace process.
But this approach was flawed from the start. Peace is attainable only when
both parties want it sufficiently, and by now it's clear that the FARC wants
power more than anything else.

The FARC, financed by drug profits and growing in numbers, has forfeited any
claim to legitimacy. It turned the Switzerland-sized peace zone into a
lawless ``Farclandia'' where it stages attacks on civilians, trains new
guerrillas, hides kidnap victims and cultivates coca. No wonder it has
rebuffed all efforts to bring in international observers.

In two years, negotiators haven't gotten close to discussing peace. Talks
have stalled since November when the FARC yet again walked out. After one
extension, the safe-haven agreement expires at midnight tonight unless Mr.
Pastrana orders otherwise.

Ironically the lessons of Farclandia could lead to improved peace odds. The
Pastrana government is near conceding a smaller demilitarized zone for talks
with the ELN, the nation's second-largest guerrilla group. Among other
conditions, the ELN has agreed to abide by the civilian authority and 150
national and international monitors. It also has pledged in writing to use
the zone only for discussions, not for recruiting, stashing weapons or other
guerrilla activities.

Should this strategy lead to workable accords with the ELN, as we would
hope, the same conditions should be demanded of the FARC.

Colombia's troubling right-wing paramilitary militias, their horrific
massacres and troubling ties to the nation's armed force shouldn't be
ignored, either. Unless Pastrana's government finds a way to force these
militias toward peace, too, Colombia's future remains rocky.