COLOMBIA PEACE TALKS STIR FEARS

Amnesty Demand, Security Woes Fuel Debate Over Groups

SANTA FE DE RALITO, Colombia -- In this small village on Colombia's
northern coast, Cornelio cut the hair of another injured paramilitary
fighter and mused on the prospects for peace between paramilitary groups
and the government.

Like most of the young fighters in a recuperation center here, Cornelio
nearly paid the ultimate price in the conflict: An exploding land mine left
him badly scarred.

"Yes, of course we want to return to civilian life, but we need security
guarantees from the government against the guerrillas," said Cornelia, who
like others here refused to give a last name on account of his numerous
outstanding arrest warrants.

After earning a reputation as Colombia's most violent illegal armed group
in the vicious four-decade civil war, the extreme right-wing paramilitaries
are in talks with the government, raising hopes that 15,000 illegal
fighters will eventually lay down their arms.

While both sides laud the negotiations -- the first serious attempt since
former president Andres Pastrana held three years of ultimately fruitless
negotiations with left-wing FARC rebels -- they are causing concern among
diverse sections of Colombia. Supporters of the paramilitaries fear a
cease-fire may open the way for vengeful guerrillas. Rights groups worry
that the government is preparing a blanket amnesty for atrocities committed
and overseen by paramilitary commanders.

The village of Santa Fe de Ralito will be the center of the talks and is
part of a 230-square-mile "zone of concentration," where sometime this
month 400 fighters will arrive to live and be monitored by the government
and the Organization of American States. This will ensure they are abiding
by the cease-fire necessary for the continuation of negotiations.

The choice of the department of Cordoba for the talks was no coincidence.
The region of hot, grassy plains is the heartland of the paramilitary
movement, home to the largest bloc of the national paramilitaries.

Locals recall how in the 1980s farmers faced kidnapping, extortion, and
assassination at the hands of guerrillas. With the government powerless to
stop the guerrillas, farm owners and businessmen created their own ragtag
vigilante group which drove the guerrillas out of the zone. The United
Self-Defense forces of Colombia, or AUC, was born.

The paramilitaries say that they are embarking on a peace process because
of the central government's successful war against left-wing rebels. Under
President Alvaro Uribe, who increased the size of the army by more than 20
percent, the military has rolled back the guerrillas in several areas.
However, many people in this region say they worry that the government will
not be able to ensure security if the paramilitaries lay down their weapons.

Those at the recuperation center are a familiar sight among the 200 or so
residents of Santa Fe de Ralito. One-legged fighters are a frequent sight
crossing the dirt roads on crutches, while others sit in wheelchairs out of
the sun.

Carolina, who also asked that her full name not be used, runs one of the
village's few stores. It is a nameless wooden hut sitting on the principal
dirt track that passes through the middle of this hamlet.

"We all want peace, who doesn't? But the government needs to increase
security here, stop the guerrillas from coming back and turning this region
into a battleground," she said.

Further criticism comes from the paramilitaries' opponents, who say that
the hard-line government is seeking to make too favorable a deal with the
AUC. Some have suggested that the AUC wants an agreement now because it
considers Uribe more sympathetic to the group's cause.

"There is a strong and growing international consensus that impunity --
whether through amnesties, pardons, or merely symbolic punishment -- must
never be granted for crimes against humanity," Jos Miguel Vivanco,
executive director of Human Rights Watch's Americas division, said in a
recent address to Colombia's Congress. He asked lawmakers to reject a bill
that would grant immunity to the paramilitaries. Congress is still debating
what punishments they should face, if any.

Paramilitary leaders have said any peace deal must exempt them from jail
time for acts committed during the civil war. They also seek a guarantee
against extradition to the United States on drug charges.

The AUC's extensive links to Colombia's cocaine trade may prove an
insurmountable obstacle. For the time being, the government is insisting
that the issue of extradition is not negotiable.

Comandante Rodrigo, a dissident paramilitary leader, had said that the AUC
leaders were talking peace with a goal of having the state wipe their slate
clean for their long histories in the drug trade. But they do not desire a
true peace, he said.

"The drug traffickers need the guerrillas to continue with the conflict, so
they can keep living in their mansions" and in the chaos of war, the drug
trafficking can continue, he said in an e-mail interview in April.

It was to be one of his last interviews. At the end of May, assassins
believed to be paramilitaries put five bullets in his head.

The US government, which has given Colombia more than $2 billion in the
past four years to battle traffickers, has expressed concern over the
course of the talks. Washington has formally requested the extradition of a
number of the AUC's leaders, including the current leader, Carlos Castano,
who is accused of exporting 17 tons of cocaine. Since an attempt on his
life in April, Castano's whereabouts have been unknown.

Following a meeting earlier this month with Colombia's vice president to
discuss the peace process, US Ambassador William Wood told reporters: "It
doesn't seem to me there's a move towards peace, but rather a move within
the paramilitaries toward the drug traffickers."