COLOMBIAN CAMPAIGNS HIT BY WAVE OF KILLINGS

ATACO, Colombia -- Armed groups have intruded into an important local
election season with a violent campaign of their own, hoping to control
hundreds of municipal offices that will play vital roles in carrying out
Colombia's anti-drug program.

So far this year, 36 political candidates for mayor, council and other
offices have been killed, most by paramilitary gunmen or groups whose
identities have not been established, said Maj. Gen. Tobias Duran, director
of operations for the National Police. Fifty others were kidnapped,
alarming human rights groups and in some states frightening off prospective
candidates for today's elections.

Running for office in Colombia has always been a risky venture, but the
imminent implementation of Plan Colombia, with its large component of U.S.
military aid, has increased the violence in several strategic states.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- FARC, according to its
Spanish acronym -- the country's largest left-wing guerrilla insurgency, is
fielding stealth candidates as part of its underground Bolivarian Movement
and vetting others from mainstream political parties in an attempt to take
control of select local governments, according to local officials.

The strategy is a departure from the FARC's traditional election-year
tactic of frightening off candidates through kidnappings and killings to
undermine the democratic process, according to leaders of the Colombian
Federation of Municipalities, which represents more than 1,000 cities and
towns. But it has also prompted paramilitary groups to field their own
candidates, making all those running for office potential targets of
political violence.

Plan Colombia, the government's three-year, $7.5 billion program to destroy
the coca and poppy crops that provide the raw ingredients for cocaine and
heroin -- and which help finance armed groups -- relies heavily on
municipal officials to carry out its crucial social development component.

The fight for control of those offices before the plan is implemented,
particularly in zones of military importance, has significantly increased
the rate of kidnappings and killings since the last election period, local
officials say.

This year alone, 11 mayors have been killed, among them Julio Hernandez
Rodr(acu)guez Rovelo, who was shot Sept. 26 in nearby Rovira. Twenty
mayoral candidates have also been killed, almost double the number from the
previous election. The municipalities federation estimates that more than
300 candidates for mayor and town council have quit out of fear.

"Normally, the participation in these local elections is very good," said
Gilberto Toro, the federation's executive director. "But the government's
failure to guarantee the legitimacy and transparency of these elections is
going to restrict that participation."

Though the U.S. military aid has come to characterize Plan Colombia,
President Andres Pastrana's advisers say the long-term success of the
strategy will depend on whether the government can win over rural
populations with new roads, schools and health clinics, among other social
programs.

Of the $1.3 billion U.S. aid package, most of which will pay for military
hardware, more than $200 million is destined for social projects, human
rights programs and judicial reform measures.

According to the plan, municipal officials will "play a vital role in
ensuring that these programs reach their intended destinations," that is,
supervising the projects that the government considers the key incentives
for farmers to turn against armed groups and the lucrative drug industry.

'The mayor is supposed to be the head of the town police force. But is he?
We need to make sure he is again,'' said Jaime Ruiz, Pastrana's point man
for Plan Colombia. 'This is about institution-building. If you don't have
them at that level, you have nothing."

Nevio Fernando Serna, who ran the town of Ataco, which sits among the gold
mines, coffee farms and poppy fields of central Colombia, became the first
of two mayors in the state of Tolima to die this year at the hands of armed
groups. The 28-year-old civil engineer was abducted May 17, two weeks after
attending a seminar in Washington on democracy.

Serna, who was educated in Bogota, the capital, 125 miles to the northeast,
had returned to help his hometown. He was shot three times in the head and
neck and left by the side of a pitted highway.

Neither the guerrillas nor the paramilitary groups that have fought over
this town of 7,000 residents have claimed responsibility, and a state
investigation into his death has not concluded. Town officials and the
three mayoral candidates hoping to succeed Serna remain menaced by his memory.

"The question everybody here is asking is, why?'' said Eleuterio Yossa, who
replaced Serna. "No one knows, but it seems they are trying to show the
population the power of their guns. They are telling people here: 'Arm
yourselves, the war is coming.'"