COLUMBIA IS BLEEDING

This is Colombia, in all its maniacal tragedy. In the town of
Chiquinquira, northeast of Bogota, leftist terrorists clamped a bomb
with a timer around the neck of a woman dairy farmer and demanded
$7,500. The family could not come up with the money. For hours an army
demolition expert worked to remove the bomb; at midafternoon it
exploded, blowing off the woman's head and mortally wounding the
soldier as well. This is what the war in Colombia is largely
about--violence, intimidation and power. It is a monster.

President Andres Pastrana blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC) for the killings and suspended the next round of peace
talks with the Marxist guerrillas. A FARC spokesman denied
responsibility, but that's hard to believe. It is the same outfit that
recently blew up a passenger-filled bus because some policemen were
aboard. It is also demanding a "peace tax" from people and businesses
with assets of $1 million or more, and it provides protection to drug
traffickers.

According to U.S. intelligence estimates, the 15,000-strong FARC army
makes more than $1 million a day from its criminal enterprises. "It is
the only self-sustaining insurgency I have ever seen," said Gen.
Charles E. Wilhelm, commander in chief of the U.S. Southern Command.

For two years Pastrana has been trying to negotiate peace with the
guerrillas, and every time they slapped him in the face he turns the
other cheek. The Times has supported his efforts to resolve the
national crisis and backs bills in the U.S. Congress that would give
the Colombian army the weapons and training to carry the fight. No
more turning the other cheek, President Pastrana. If Colombia, one of
the few Latin nations with a history of democracy, means to maintain
that tradition, it will have to fight for it. If the United States
wants peace in Colombia, it will have to send arms and other equipment.

Bogota will have to restore the state's authority in territories now
controlled by guerrilla regimes built by extortion and drugs. To field
a credible military presence Pastrana needs the $1.7 billion in
emergency U.S. aid that passed the House but is stalled in the Senate.
If ever there was a time of desperate need for U.S. aid, this is it.