COLOMBIA NEEDS ITS OWN PINOCHET

CHICAGO -- Your June 23 editorial "Colombians want negotiations" states
that the "message from Colombian voters was clear." This assertion couldn't
be further from the truth.

In the final round of the elections, President-elect Andres Pastrana beat
his opponent, Horacio Serpa, by only a few percentage points. But in the
first round election, another candidate, retired Gen. Harold Bedoya,
attracted significant support running on a platform promising to restore
law and order. This support came despite the fact that he was not the
candidate of either of the two major parties.

Your interpretation was that by choosing Pastrana over Serpa, Colombians
support his plan to open a dialogue with the guerrillas. We need to
re-examine, however, who are today's guerrillas. They are not the social
and economic underclass from the countryside who originally had adopted a
Socialist/Marxist ideology for the purpose of gaining a voice and a stake
in Colombia's economy. They abandoned this philosophy when they decided to
become well-paid henchmen for narcotraffickers, guarding their fields,
laboratories and drug distribution networks. Today the Colombian press, and
society as a whole, refer to them as "narcoguerrillas."

The clear majority of Colombians from all classes know very well that the
narcoguerrillas are brutal murderers who derive much of their financial
support by kidnapping people capable of paying high ransoms. The
narcoguerrillas are responsible for Colombia having the highest kidnapping
rate per capita in the world. In recent years, evenAmerican missionaries
have been kidnapped.

In the past, the narcoguerrillas have offered to negotiate when it was
convenient for them, including during the administration of President
Ernesto Samper, who made efforts to reach peace agreements. Nothing
substantive or lasting resulted.

It is utter nonsense to accuse the military of human rights violations in
light of what I have just described. Colombia is on the verge of a civil
war. I do recognize that some members of Colombia's government have been
accused of corruption as well as having links to the drug cartels. But all
nations have varying degrees of corruption.

Additionally this issue has no relationship to the existing government's
need to take a firm and aggressive stand against those from within who
desire to bring down their nation. Therefore it is the narcoguerrillas who
are truly guilty of violating human rights.

The military must act decisively and firmly. Unfortunately it is lacking
the resources to do so and has no choice but to look for foreign
assistance.

Today a majority of Colombians are yearning for the likes of an Alberto
Fujimori of Peru, or even a Gen. Augusto Pinochet of Chile, and believe
that these are the types of leaders the country needs to finally stem the
tide of violence being generated by narcoguerrillas. Although it was tragic
that many died in the process, these leaders, especially in Chile's case,
brought a degree of social stability that enabled their economies to be
some of the fastest growing in South America.

Mark Greben

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)