COLOMBIA'S REBEL ARMY OPENS ITS LAIR

Turning point in civil war: International diplomats to gather under plastic
awning for talks with
FARC

VILLA NUEVA COLOMBIA, COLOMBIA - In the fly-blown "capital" of its own
pseudo-state on the edge of the Amazon jungle, Colombia's largest
rebel army is preparing to play host to the world's diplomats.

Canada's ambassador to Colombia will join 23 other foreign dignitaries
and Colombian government officials at the unprecedented meeting with
the Marxist FARC -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia --
which specializes in kidnappings and revolution, and controls a
section of the country the size of Switzerland.

A delegation of 20 coca leaf growers will be there, underlining
Colombia's status as producer of about 80% of the world's cocaine.

The United States will not be present. Although invited, sources said
it is unlikely the ambassador will accept. Spurred largely by its
desire to eradicate the drug trade, Washington is pouring
US$1.6-billion into Colombia, much of it directed to the country's
army, which has fought FARC in a 36-year-old civil war.

Guillermo Rishchynski, Canada's ambassador, acknowledges the session
provides the guerrillas with an unusual degree of recognition.

"This is the first time the international community has been invited
by FARC to talk about issues of substance and that's an important
departure. It implies a certain level of recognition for FARC," he
said.

"Ultimately if there are going to be real negotiations, everyone has
to make concessions and move from extreme positions ... and agree to
forego attacking innocent civilians."

Joining Canada at the June 29-30 gathering will be observers and
ambassadors from Japan, Britain, Europe and Latin America. They will
sit on white garden chairs under a plastic awning to discuss what
participants see as a significant turning point in efforts to end the
civil war.

Villa Nueva Colombia is the centre of peace talks that have been going
on for two years. But never have so many international dignitaries
come to the centre of FARC's lair.

They are expected to raise humanitarian issues with the guerrillas,
including the wholesale kidnapping of civilians, while FARC and the
coca growers want to discuss alternatives to the lucrative cocaine
operations, centred here in Caqueta province and neighbouring Putumayo.

Both FARC and right-wing para-military groups benefit from the illicit
crop. Although FARC does not grow coca, it gets about $500-million a
year from "taxes" levied on coca production and transport in the areas
it controls.

"There are no drug traffickers in this zone, only poor people who are
forced to grow coca to survive," Alfonso Cano, FARC's
second-in-command, said in a recent interview with the National Post.

"Our image abroad is misunderstood, we are seen as the
narco-guerrillas. But it's not true, we want to resolve the drug problem."

The guerrillas plan to put forward suggestions for crop substitution.
They will ask foreign governments to help fund a pilot project to grow
alternative crops, such as palm oil or rubber, in Cartagena del
Chaira, an area outside the demilitarized zone.

The foreign dignitaries will get a helicopter tour of the surrounding
jungle, giving them a chance to catch a glimpse of a coca plantation
or two from the air.

They will bunk down in an abandoned military base, and be transported
to the conference site in four-by-four jeeps, the only vehicles
capable of traversing the impossibly bumpy red dirt road from San
Vicente del Caguan, the closest town an hour away.

Some analysts believe the Colombian government made a huge mistake
when it allowed the creation of the demilitarized zone, officially
known as zona de despeje ("cleared zone").

The move enabled FARC to consolidate its power base and coca growers
to expand their business. According to Mr. Cano, kidnapping and
extortion continue as a regrettably necessary form of financing the
17,000-member army.

"We are in a confrontation with the state and it costs a lot," said
the 52-year-old former anthropologist, who wears military fatigues and
tortoiseshell glasses, and sports a pistol at his hip.

"But from a political point of view, kidnapping is not something we
can justify."

Analysts believe FARC's attempt to seek political legitimacy through
international meetings such as this one -- and through two recent
trips to Spain to meet European politicians -- is a double-edged sword.

"While FARC wants peace, they want it negotiated from a state of war.
I don't know anywhere in the world where this has happened before,"
noted one diplomat. "The government is in a very weak position and has
bent over backward to accommodate FARC."

The international meeting will almost certainly include a heated
discussion of the controversial Plan Colombia, President Andres
Pastrana's $7.5-billion blueprint to combat drug trafficking and
finance the peace process.

Bill Clinton, the U.S. President, has pledged $1.6-billion, mostly in
military aid, to equip Colombia's army with 60 helicopters and train
airborne anti-drug squads that will spray powerful herbicides on to
drug plantations. This would make Colombia the largest recipient of
U.S. foreign aid, after Israel and Egypt.

But the U.S. funding, now held up in Congress, has prompted critics
from within the United States and some European countries to suggest
the United States is getting dragged into another Vietnam. They fear
the "campaign into the south" will draw U.S. military advisors into
the broader conflict between the guerrillas and the government.

For their part, U.S. officials have pledged not to get involved in an
armed insurgency. They say the aid will be used solely to eradicate
coca production, not to fight the guerrillas.

Said one diplomat: "The timing of the FARC meeting may be an attempt
to undermine the military component of Plan Colombia, which FARC sees
as hurting them."

Regardless of the topics discussed at the meeting, the very fact it is
happening gives FARC a new legitimacy, said Medofilo Medina, a
professor at Colombia's National University.

"At least there is contact, even if the peace talks are for now a
chance for the two sides to merely register the advances or setbacks
of the internal strife."

But meaningful peace negotiations can only take place once FARC lays
down its weapons and Colombia's armed forces break off ties with the
right-wing para-military groups.

Next month, guerrillas and government negotiators are expected to
present proposals for a cease-fire. These could lead to a promise to
end all hostilities if the government agrees to financially sustain
the rebel force during any peace talks.

However, a ceasefire agreement with FARC will not solve all Colombia's
problems. Mr. Pastrana must still contend with other insurgency
movements, principally the Army of National Liberation, responsible
for last year's brazen kidnapping of 44 passengers on a plane and
worshippers in a church in Cali.

Government negotiators recently agreed to grant ELN's 5,000 members
their own version of FARC's demilitarized zone in northern Colombia.
This time, the government decided to call the piece of land a zona de
encuentro, a meeting place.

The next group expected to step up to the plate to negotiate for its
own chunk of territory is the Autodefensas Unidas, the 11,000-strong
paramilitary force led by Carlos Castano.

He showed his face to the world for the first time on television
earlier this year. Significantly, he picked a business suit for the
lengthy interview.

"Really, the Colombian state is so weak that it has to negotiate with
three delinquent states," said Jose Cuesta, a professor of conflict
studies, and a human rights activist.

Back at Villa Nueva Colombia, the FARC offices hum with activity as
guerrillas write e-mails on their laptops and issue comunicados in
preparation for the international meeting.

Outside, blowing in the wind is the group's official flag. It is red,
blue and yellow, the same colours as the Colombian flag. The only
difference is that the guerrillas' version has two rifles and a book
in the middle.