U.S. SAYS COLOMBIAN REBELS READY FOR WAR

Chicola, In A Bleak Assessment Of Nation's Situation, Says Guerillas
Rejected Accord

BOGOTA, Colombia - A U.S. diplomat who tried to maintain a secret
dialogue with Colombian rebels two years ago now says the guerrillas
have turned their backs on peace initiatives as all sides gird for a
wider war.

As Colombia, backed by $1.3 billion in U.S. aid, prepares a new
offensive against rebels protecting drug crops, envoy Phillip Chicola
on Thursday gave details for the first time on how his attempt to
establish contacts with the rebels fell apart.

His assessment of the current situation was bleak, a far cry from the
optimism he felt after holding secret meetings in December 1998 with
Colombia's largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, or FARC.

Since then, Washington has severed its contacts with the FARC, which
it blames for the deaths of three Americans, and talks between the
Colombian government and the rebels have collapsed over the failure of
the rebels to hand over one of its members who hijacked an airliner
this year.

"It is clear that the FARC has totally failed to take any steps or
make any gestures that indicate even a willingness on their part to be
forthcoming as part of the peace process," Chicola, the State
Department's Director of Andean Affairs, told a small group of
American journalists.

Two years ago, Washington was feeling out whether the rebels were
serious about making peace in their 36-year war with the Colombian
government.

After his secret talks with FARC leader Raul Reyes in Costa Rica on
Dec. 14-15, 1998, Chicola had high hopes he had opened a fruitful dialogue.

Chicola's guidelines for the meeting: describe U.S. policy on
Colombia, especially in drug trafficking and human rights, emphasize
America's support for the peace process and stress the importance of
"the safety and well-being of American citizens."

In addition to the U.S. troops training Colombian troops here, there
are dozens of American diplomats, business executives, journalists,
students, researchers and social activists in the country.

Chicola was particularly concerned about the fate of three American
missionaries who had disappeared in 1993 and were believed to have
been held by the FARC.

Only months before the Costa Rica meeting - sensitive because the FARC
was on the State Department's list of terrorist groups - the rebels
kidnapped three American birdwatchers in the mountains of Colombia.

The birdwatchers were freed unharmed, but not before a rebel commander
threatened to kill them if he determined they were CIA spies.

Chicola recalled that Reyes responded particularly well to his
concerns about the lives of Americans.

"He said 'Well, we'll work on it but it's very difficult, we have
people all over the country - command and control is always a problem,
but we will make it a policy (not to kill Americans),'" Chicola recalled.

"It was relatively a positive meeting."

Chicola felt so good about the tone of the first meeting that he was
about to suggest a second one a few weeks later. But then, three
American pro-Indian activists were kidnapped by FARC rebels in the
plains of eastern Colombia in February 1999.

Chicola was confident the Americans would be released unharmed.
Instead, on March 4, 1999, their bodies were found, bound and
blindfolded. Each had been shot to death.