DEFIANT AFTER 40 YEARS OF DRUG WAR

THE rebels have seen 11 presidents come and go and have no fear of the
latest counterinsurgency, backed by the US.

The Farc, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, marked its 40th
anniversary promising to continue its ?200m-a-year business of drug
smuggling, kidnapping and extortion.

Colombia was in lockdown this weekend, with police and army checkpoints in
place around all major towns and cities. The government of Oxford-educated
Alvaro Uribe ordered the security operation to prevent bloodshed. It was
relatively successful with only 20 people being killed across the country
in rebel attacks.

President Uribe, whose father was killed by Farc rebels in a botched
kidnapping, has vowed to crush the guerrillas.

"This is not the moment to speculate over who will sit at a negotiating
table," Uribe recently told army commanders. "This is the moment of
military definition to defeat the rebels."

The United States, as well as bankrolling the army to the tune of more than
?300m, is also providing real time intelligence from satellites, spy planes
and listening stations dedicated to Colombia, which is crucial in the
planning and execution of military offensives against the rebels.

The Farc has responded by withdrawing into its mountain and jungle
strongholds. Many observers insist there is a reality gap between the
government propaganda and the situation on the ground.

"The government has made advances against the Farc, without doubt," said
analyst Alfredo Rangel, "but their core strength has not been damaged, and
for them, lying low for a couple of years is no problem."

The current US aid package is due to end in 2005. There are up to 500 US
troops in Colombia, although they are prohibited from getting directly
involved in combat, along with another 400 civilian contractors working as
mercenaries for military-related companies.

There have been US casualties in the fighting, with several pilots of
planes spraying to destroy drug crops being shot down, and the kidnapping
of three intelligence operatives by the Farc in February last year. The
three were captured after their plane crash-landed in a
guerrilla-controlled region. Of the five crewmen, two were shot by the
guerrillas as they were hurt and would slow the escape.

With the escalating situation in Iraq, policymakers in Washington are
getting nervous about continuing their deep commitment in Colombia, a war
that claims more than 3,500 lives each year. In 40 years Farc has gained
control of thousands of square miles of rural areas particularly on the
borders with Venezuela, Peru and Ecuador. But its aim of taking control of
the whole country has eluded it.

"The US is scared of entering another internal conflict in the moment that
the situation in Iraq is going out of control," said Kimberly Stanton of
the Washington Office on Latin America thinktank.

Should the US withdraw or scale down its military involvement in Colombia,
the government offensive will be seriously undermined and the Farc could
quickly bounce back.

Washington has placed the Farc on its terrorist list not because it fears
the guerrillas could ever launch attacks on the mainland US, but because of
their involvement in the drugs trade and the supply of Colombian cocaine
and heroin that goes towards feeding America's ?40bn-a-year drug habit.

The Farc is arguably the most powerful drug cartel in the world, and
certainly the richest guerrilla army. It is estimated to control almost
half of the 800 tons of cocaine that leaves Colombia every year.

It has the majority of the drug fields in its territory and controls the
porous jungle borders with Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador and Peru, where the
drug consignments start their journey to the US and Europe.

The US recently put 19 Farc commanders on its list of 'Narcotics Kingpins'
and has issued extradition requests for the Farc field marshal Jorge
Briceno, alias 'El Mono Jojoy', along with three other senior figures.

Another source of guerrilla income is kidnapping. There is one abduction in
Colombia every four hours. A quarter of those are attributed to the Farc,
making it the world's most prolific kidnapping organisation.

Last year Briton David Hutchinson, a retired bank manager of Lloyds TSB,
spent nine months held hostage by the Farc until an undisclosed ransom was
paid. The first three months were spent in the freezing Andes mountains and
the last six in the sticky heat of the jungle, watched over every minute by
heavily-armed guerrillas. Hutchinson said he had not been abused, but
neither was he well looked after - just treated as a piece of merchandise.
For him the worst thing was the boredom.

"During the day, in true British style, we would invent silly games to keep
ourselves occupied," Hutchinson said. "But it got dark at 5.30pm and the
sun did not filter through the jungle trees until the same time the next
morning. There was no light, no candles, no nothing, just that endless night."

As well as kidnap for ransom, the Farc has been abducting security force
officers and politicians, some of whom have now spent six years in
captivity. The guerrillas are planning to release these people only in
exchange for hundreds of rebels held in prison, convicted of crimes ranging
from kidnapping to murder.

The government has so far refused to consider the exchange and the captives
are condemned to many more years in their jungle prisons.

While the Farc has not launched any major offensives over the past three
years, it has moved its war, once restricted to the countryside, into the
cities. The security forces have insisted that the Farc received expertise
from the IRA in urban operations, although the Irishmen accused of training
recruits were acquitted last month of terrorist charges. The case is under
appeal and the three Irishmen are still in prison.

A car bomb in Bogota's most exclusive social club in February last year
killed 37 and wounded 160, announcing the arrival of the Farc's urban war.
Since then bombs have become commonplace in the nation's cities.

The Farc has been quiet, but is not defeated. Instead of taking on the
newly invigorated Colombian military and the US, it has decided to sit back
and wait, concentrating on building its urban networks and finances, and
acquiring new weapons.

With 16,000 fighters spread across the country, the rebels could launch an
offensive at any time.

"We've been fighting for almost 40 years," Farc commander Fabian Ramirez
told Scotland on Sunday. "And we will keep fighting until we bring about a
new Colombia, even if it takes another 40 years."