COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT TOURS BOMBING SITE

He Won't Lay Blame In Light Of Talks

BOGOTA, Colombia -- President Andres Pastrana toured a car-bombed mall
parking lot yesterday but refused to lay blame for the bombing at a
sensitive time for peace talks with leftist rebels.

"We don't want to discuss hypotheses because that could cause
complications," Pastrana said after inspecting charred wreckage and rubble
at a shopping mall in the northwestern mountain city of Medelln.

A woman was killed and a 9-month-old baby was among 53 injured as about 110
pounds of explosives packed in a pickup exploded on the first level of the
parking garage at the peak shopping time Wednesday.

Colombia's official ombudsman said yesterday that a second bomb victim had
died.

No one has claimed responsibility for the blast, which came as the
government and the two main leftist guerrilla forces are in talks to end
the four-decade war that has claimed 35,000 civilian lives in the past 10
years.

The biggest rebel group, the 17,000-member Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, or FARC, reportedly is preparing to free a significant number of
its 450 police and military prisoners to jump-start the peace talks, which
have been stalled for two years.

Right-wing paramilitaries, which often target suspected civilian guerrilla
collaborators, are the third major irregular force in the war the army has
been unable to end.

Colombia's drug lords and crime kings also are notoriously violent, and the
infamous Medelln Cartel waged a bloody car-bombing campaign from 1988 until
its boss, Pablo Escobar, was gunned down by police in 1993.

The United States is pouring $1.3 billion of mainly military aid into
Colombia to help it fight the world's largest cocaine industry and pursue
peace.

But analysts fear the presence of U.S. Blackhawk helicopters -- although
piloted by Colombians -- and U.S. military advisers will fuel the conflict.

Leftist guerrillas and the paramilitaries now draw much of their funds from
illegal drugs.

Pastrana said he would find those behind the bombing, which damaged more
than 250 cars and shook the crowd at the mall's multiplex cinema.

Pastrana must decide by Jan. 31 whether to allow the FARC continued use of
a Switzerland-sized demilitarized zone in southern Colombia.

He has come under pressure to take a tougher line with the FARC since the
assassination of a congressional peace commissioner, Diego Turbay, his
mother, and five others just outside the enclave last month.

The FARC has been widely blamed for the killings, although it has not
claimed responsibility.

Pastrana granted the rebels the free zone two years ago, but critics say
the FARC has used it for recruitment and holding hostages for ransom.