DON'T STOP AT PRESSURING FARC

If there were a "Most Wanted" deck of cards for Colombian insurgents,
Ricardo Palmera, better known as Simon Trinidad, might rank as high as
an ace.

That's why his capture last week has left Colombian and U.S.
government officials jubilant, rightfully sensing they have dealt a
major blow to the archrival FARC. The FARC, by far the country's
largest rebel army, is battling the Colombian military and its U.S.
advisers in an ugly war that costs 3,500 lives each year.

Palmera, the FARC's financial mastermind, is the highest-ranking FARC
officer ever nabbed. He is expected to face a score of charges,
including murder and kidnapping.

Palmera is a unique figure in Colombia's civil war. The scion of a
wealthy family, he worked as an economics professor before beginning a
successful career as a banker.

He then gave up a life of affluence among Colombia's upper crust to
join the FARC. According to law enforcement estimates, Palmera watched
over the FARC's financial empire, including managing $300 million in
annual income from drug sales and kidnapping ransoms.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe hailed the capture, saying it shows
that with "perseverance and patience, the work will continue until we
completely dismantle terrorism."

That remains quite a challenge. Palmera's capture ought to at least
increase support for new security measures.

One of those is the effort to train and equip an elite Colombian army
unit to target guerrilla commanders. Another is to expand, where
possible and feasible, efforts by the United States to share
intelligence with the Colombian military. U.S. intelligence reportedly
played a major role in Palmera's capture.

What should not be lost in the celebrating, however, is the need to
keep the pressure on a different set of players, the paramilitary
forces, in this terrible and brutal conflict. They, too, have
committed plenty of atrocities and have been deeply intertwined in the
drug trade.

The Colombian government's offer of clemency to paramilitary groups,
which led to the disarming of close to 1,000 paramilitary mercenaries
last fall, must only be carried out in the most careful and judicious
manner. Inducing these fighters to lay down their weapons is vital,
but not by turning a blind eye to those who ordered or committed some
of the worst abuses witnessed in this conflict.

An effort that cracks down hard on the FARC, as Colombian authorities
and their U.S. allies must continue to do, without equally pressing
the paramilitary forces might undermine the effort to shorten the war.