MARCHES SHOW DISGUST WITH A COLOMBIAN REBEL GROUP

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marched
here and in other cities around Colombia on Monday to protest the
abductions and killings carried out by the country's largest rebel group.

The marches, which also took place on a smaller scale in foreign
cities from New York to Tokyo, were a vivid display of growing
outrage in relation to the rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC. Demonstrators also criticized
President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela for his plea to remove the FARC
from lists of terrorist groups.

"The FARC made themselves into criminals a long time ago," said
Martin Orozco, 32, a surgeon who marched to the Plaza Bolivar
downtown here to voice chants like "No more FARC!" and "We want peace
and liberation!" "We are simply tired of this," he said.

Until several months ago, such a mass gathering against the FARC
would have been improbable in this country. Large cities like Bogota
and Medellin had been largely pacified in recent years, with war
still raging in parts of the countryside, and the FARC and other
guerrillas groups had become less of a pressing concern as the economy boomed.

But then 11 lawmakers held by the FARC were shot to death in a jungle
camp last June. And Mr. Chavez's efforts to win the release of dozens
of other hostages held by FARC changed things. President Alvaro Uribe
of Colombia withdrew his support for Mr. Chavez's mediating role last
November, triggering a political dispute that has intensified in recent weeks.

The FARC released just two high-profile hostages last month and was
found to be lying about the whereabouts of a 3-year-old boy born into
captivity, discovered living in foster care here and not in jungle
camps. Shortly after the release of the two hostages, Mr. Chavez
called on the FARC to be seen as a "real army" and not terrorists.

That assessment did not sit well with many Colombians already upset
with delays in releasing hostages. A group venting their rage at the
FARC on Facebook, an Internet social-networking site, had formed in
early January before Mr. Chavez's comments. It organized Monday's
marches, gaining the support of Mr. Uribe's government.

"The Colombian people were lethargic, with an almost cynical
indifference to the problems of violence," said Oscar Montes, 33, a
civil engineer in Barranquilla who helped organize the marches on
Facebook. "At this time the FARC can say whatever they want," he said
in a telephone interview. "But they will not have legitimacy."

The FARC said over the weekend that it would hand over three more
hostages to Mr. Chavez, citing the deteriorating health of the
captives, former lawmakers who have been held for more than five
years. No date was set for the release of the captives, Gloria
Polanco, Luis Eladio Perez and Orlando Beltran.

The FARC lashed out at the marches and at Mr. Uribe in a statement
Monday, claiming "inhuman intransigence" on his part had blocked
efforts to achieve a prisoner exchange.

The Marxist-inspired FARC continues to hold more than 40 political
hostages, including Ingrid Betancourt, a former presidential
candidate, and three American military contractors captured when
their plane crash-lnaded in the jungle in 2003. The guerrillas are
also accused of holding 700 captives for ransom.

Support for the marches was not unanimous in Colombia. Relatives of
some of the FARC's captives opposed them, contending that they
lowered chances for a release.

The FARC, one of the main actors in Colombia's long internal war,
finances itself through kidnapping and cocaine trafficking. A smaller
rebel group, the National Liberation Army also carries out abductions
for profit, largely along the long border with Venezuela.

Private militias, which battled both guerrilla groups for much of the
1990's and well into this decade, have largely disbanded. But many of
the combatants in the militias, which carried out their own
kidnappings and massacres, have resurfaced in Mafia-like groups that
profit from drug trafficking and extortion.

Mr. Chavez's role in mediating Colombia's conflict has come under
increasing scrutiny here. At the march on Monday, people chanted,
"Chavez guerrilla, the people are offended!" among other chants
critical of Venezuela's president.

A report in Semana, a leading news magazine, claimed this week that
Hugo Carvajal, Mr. Chavez's chief of military intelligence, provided
logistical assistance and forged Venezuelan identity documents for
FARC commanders. Mr. Chavez lashed out at the report Monday night,
calling it an "attack against the revolution."

Anti-FARC marches took place in Venezuela and other countries
affected by the war throughout the Americas. In Lima, Peru, more than
800 people gathered in front of Congress. One demonstrator there was
Jorge Santamaria, 56, who was kidnapped by the FARC in 1999 when he
fled attacks by Shining Path guerrillas in Peru.

"I don't think they killed me because I made it clear I am not afraid
of death," said Mr. Santamaria, abducted at Bogota's airport and held
for eight months. "I convinced them I was no one important," said Mr.
Santamaria, who was working for a palm oil company in the Peruvian
Amazon at the time.

One of the most poignant expressions against the FARC could be seen
outside the United Nations headquarters in New York where hundreds of
demonstrators gathered. Salvador Zapata, 37, a restaurant worker in
Edgewater, N.J., held his thoughts high above his head, written in a
bright blue poster.

"FARC stop this dirty and fractious war against the people," read one
line of his comments.

"They say that they represent the people," said Mr. Zapata, who is
from Caldas, Colombia. "This is a lie."