COLOMBIA TO REBELS: STAND DOWN, CASH IN

Hundreds of guerrillas demobilizing in return for housing, jobs

BOGOTA, Colombia - As battlefield strategies go, killing 'em with kindness
tends not to be the generals' preferred line of attack. But in a country
where civility has been sorely lacking after four decades of civil conflict,
kindness turns out to be the one tactic that works.

President Alvaro Uribe's government, with help from Washington, is making a
top priority of disarming the nation's guerrilla and paramilitary
self-defense forces by offering them money, housing, food and jobs.

The program's success - a 40 percent surge in participation this year - has
been a huge windfall for the government, senior officials say. Not only has
it led to the demobilization of more than 1,700 combatants in the last year,
but the deserters are providing crucial, real-time intelligence on how the
insurgents operate.

Washington sees the demobilization program as key to disarming the armed
groups that protect the nation's booming cocaine and heroin trade, the
principal goal of a $2 billion, five-year U.S. aid package to Colombia.

"The reason I joined the guerrillas to begin with was because I didn't have
a job," said Jorge, 19, a three-year veteran of the nation's largest
guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. "The
government promised me I could have my own business if I quit the
guerrillas. So I quit."

Like other former combatants, Jorge declined to give his full name, saying
that he and his family face a FARC death threat because of his desertion.
Jorge said he has been in hiding for weeks while the government finds a way
to move his parents and siblings out of their village in the state of
Tolima.

Ex-rebels' fears

The constant fear of assassination is one of myriad problems confronting the
ex-combatants, said Martha Cecilia Robledo, a psychologist assigned to the
program. All participants are provided temporary housing and food in Bogota
while they attend rehabilitation and career-counseling sessions so they can
return to civilian life with as few glitches as possible. "After so much
time at war, they have difficulty controlling their impulses. They fight a
lot. They have difficulty controlling their sense of panic," Ms. Robledo
said. "The pain is always there. They've watched their friends die in front
of them. They dream about the people whose lives they've taken."

Nightmares are common. In addition, the largely rural-raised ex-combatants
are being exposed to an urban environment they've never known before. A
number of them are illiterate. Drug addiction and alcoholism are constant
threats, as is the lure of prostitution both for males and females.

"It happens in a matter of seconds because, all of a sudden, they're
enjoying an independence they've never had before - plus, they have access
to money they've never had before," Ms. Robledo said.

'Have to be patient'

Government officials concede they are having a hard time matching their
promises - to help the ex-combatants find work or set up their own
businesses - with the reality that a number of them barely qualify for jobs
as janitors. "Many of the guys are demoralized because they think they're
going to be running their own store next week," said "El Medico," 32, a
former guerrilla field medic who deserted in late July. "They don't
understand that they have to be patient."

The vice minister of defense, Andres M. Penate, said previous governments
have tried but failed with similar demobilization programs. He attributed
the current program's success to several factors, including a
professional-style marketing campaign using radio broadcasts, posters and
leaflets aimed at areas where guerrillas and paramilitary fighters
circulate.

The publicity campaign coincides with a U.S.-financed military campaign that
has helped increase the presence of troops and police in rural areas and put
the nation's 25,000 guerrillas and paramilitary insurgents on the defensive
for the first time in years, Mr. Penate said. A U.S.-assisted
psychological-operations campaign also aims to convince insurgents that
combat is a futile endeavor.

"Most of the people who demobilize ... will tell you it's because they are
sick and tired of this war," Mr. Penate explained. "At first, they will say
things like, 'Oh, I did this because I want a better opportunity in life' or
'because I wanted some extra money.' But if you really press them, they'll
tell you, 'You know, this war is useless.' "

The radio broadcasts typically include a statement by an ex-combatant
talking about how he received an education or help establishing his own
business after surrendering to the government. The broadcasts contain
specific instructions on how and where to surrender.

The FARC has reacted angrily, warning all deserters that they and their
family members will be hunted down and killed. The rebels also have tried to
launch their own radio and leaflet program promising higher pay and better
conditions to government troops who defect.

"If this irritates the FARC, it's probably good," Mr. Penate said.

El Medico said his position - providing medical care for commanders of the
FARC and the smaller National Liberation Army guerrilla group - gave him
access to intelligence on hide-outs and movements, as well as tactics used
by the rebels to travel to friendly countries such as Cuba and Venezuela.

He said he cooperated with army interrogators, who spent days debriefing him
after his desertion.

"I have delivered 57 babies, performed 12 amputations and 25 complex
surgeries," he said. Although El Medico hopes to receive some kind of
paramedic training so he can enter the field of rural health care, he said
he knows the guerrilla leadership will go to great lengths to kill or
recapture him.

"I know they have infiltrated this program with their own spies. We're all
afraid because we know someone among us is an informant for the guerrillas,"
El Medico said.

Taking new route

Some graduates of the program tell some amazing success stories as well.
Miguel Abdala, 39, a former field commander of the National Liberation Army
and FARC, deserted three years ago after becoming disillusioned with the
state of world Marxism. "The world has changed. I realized that there's no
future fighting a bloody war without anyone outside to support us. The
Soviet Union is gone. Nicaragua has fallen," he said, referring to the
collapse of the Marxist Sandinista government that ruled in Managua from
1979 to 1990.

As a reborn capitalist, Mr. Abdala is managing director of a small
fruit-juice company staffed entirely by former guerrillas. The company was
launched with eight principal investors - all guerrilla deserters - who used
the equivalent of about $4,000 in government seed money to purchase juicing
and packaging equipment and set up shop in a rented house.

"We're at the break-even point right now," Mr. Abdala said. "We're trying to
get a contract to supply a major supermarket chain. If that happens, we'll
start to see good profits." Clients include hotels, the Colombian Red Cross,
churches, schools and the halfway houses where former guerrillas are
staying.

Although he faults the government for falling short on some of its promises
to the ex-insurgents, Mr. Abdala said he is encouraged by the government's
willingness to bury the enmities of the past.

The Colombian army ranks among his company's biggest clients, he said.
Soldiers drink juice rations packaged and supplied by the men they used to
fight.