COLOMBIA'S SAVAGE WAR FOR PEACE

The left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC,
couldn't have made their intentions clearer. In response to a peace
declaration by the self-styled Colombian Self-Defense Forces, they
slaughtered more than 50 of their deadly right-wing rivals in a surprise
attack.

Once again the FARC has ruthlessly demonstrated that it has no interest in
a peaceful settlement of the troubled nation's long and vicious civil war.
The bloodletting by the FARC did, however, serve to show that Colombia's
new president, Alvaro Uribe, made the right decision when he decided to
break with the soft-line policies toward the guerrillas adopted by his
predecessor, Andres Pastrana.

Last week, President Uribe rejected a proposal by the FARC to resume the
charade of peace negotiations with the government. Instead, he told the
FARC to make their presentations to the United Nations, which is acting as
a mediator, and vowed to press ahead with a military campaign that has U.S.
backing.

The Cold War conflicts in Central America, which is now pacified and
relatively stable, were all resolved when left-wing guerrillas realized
that they could not seize power by force of arms. It was only when they
were forced to face the fact that they could not win on the battlefield or
by urban terrorism that the insurgents came to the negotiating table and
eventually entered the political process.

The civil war in Colombia is financed by the protection money that the drug
cartels pay both the left-wing guerrillas and the right-wing paramilitary
squads. This has enabled the insurgents to acquire weapons and sustain
large armies. The government has been at a disadvantage, lacking modern
equipment and training despite U.S. assistance, which was strictly
conditioned to the eradication of cocaine and heroin production and
trafficking.

President Uribe has been successful in persuading the United States to
relax the conditions applied to military assistance. The Colombian Army is
better equipped and better trained and has managed to resume operations in
a huge area ceded to the FARC by the previous government.

Rule of law can only be restored to Colombia by military means. Peace will
not stand a chance in Colombia until the FARC understands that it cannot
take power by force of arms or by the fear induced through terrorism.