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