COLOMBIA ELECTIONS SEEN AS BLOW TO PASTRANA

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) -- Colombia's elections for thousands of local
and state posts came off peacefully on Sunday, but the outcome was seen as
a blow to embattled President Andres Pastrana midway through his four-year
term.

Pastrana's Conservative Party lost races for governor and mayor in
traditional strongholds and Liberal and independent candidates claimed
victories across the country.

Independents won mayoral elections in four of the country's largest cities
including the capital of Bogota.

"It was a punishment vote against the current government, which has done
nothing to improve the living conditions of Colombians," said Liberal Party
leader Horacio Serpa.

In Bogota, Antanas Mockus, a former university professor who served as
Bogota's mayor from 1995-97, beat Conservative and Liberal candidates to
win a new term.

The country's first indigenous governor was elected in the southwest
province Cauca, and a shoeshine man made a successful bid for the Bogota
city council where he vowed to work for the poor.

"I don't want luxury cars or cellular phones," said Luis Eduardo Diaz.
"This money must be invested in the people."

No Major Disruptions

Aside from battles between members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC) and army troops in outlying provinces that left two rebels
dead, voting proceeded without major disruptions after weeks of attacks,
officials said.

The South American nation is engulfed in an escalating armed conflict
fuelled by the drug trade that has claimed at least 35,000 lives since 1990.

Campaigns were marred by violence as leftist rebels and right-wing
paramilitary squads sought to influence the outcome of the poll.

At least 20 local candidates were killed and more than 200 kidnapped.
Scores of others withdrew their candidacies under threat.

About half of Colombia's 23 million registered voters went to the polls, a
typical turnout in the nation of 40 million inhabitants.

Amid political violence and economic recession, Pastrana's public approval
is at its lowest since he took office, with a 30-percent favorable rating.

He has faced mounting criticism over his failure to negotiate a peace
settlement with rebels following nearly four decades of armed conflict.

Plan Colombia Assailed

And his $7.5 billion Plan Colombia, designed to push the guerrillas toward
a peace deal by stemming the lucrative drug trade financing their
movements, is seen by domestic critics, Latin American neighbors and
European nations as a largely U.S. military operation.

The U.S. contribution of $1.3 billion in mostly military aid makes up the
largest chunk of foreign funding for the plan.

On Sunday, in the heart of a demilitarized zone controlled by the FARC in
southern Colombia, where stalled peace talks have been under way since
1999, a billboard indicted Plan Colombia.

"Plan Colombia -- the gringos supply the weapons and Colombia supplies the
dead," said the sign on the central plaza of San Vicente del Caguan, the
largest town in the guerrilla sanctuary.