FORMER FIGHTERS GET COUNSELING

LA CEJA - On the neatly trimmed grounds of a former social club, ex-
paramilitary fighters are struggling to leave the past behind them.

Once they were feared members of the outlawed Cacique Nutibara militia,
enemies of the country's leftist guerrillas. Now, after the 800-member
militia handed in their weapons Nov. 25, they are young men with few
prospects, afraid of their future.

Many have known violence most of their lives.

"I don't know how I will feel without my weapon," said a 26-year-old
fighter who would only give his alias, Godimes. He said he has belonged to
a neighborhood gang in the city of Medellin since he was 8.

Godimes and other former members of the Cacique Nutibara, the first
paramilitary faction to disarm, are undergoing three weeks of counseling at
the former club in La Ceja, 18 miles outside Medellin. For the first time
since the demobilization, a few journalists were allowed into the former
social club.

One young man acknowledged he had never carried a gun and had slipped into
the demobilization process in hopes of getting job training.

"I saw this as an opportunity to be able to study and get work," said a
21-year-old man who gave his name only as Edison.

Opponents of President Alvaro Uribe's initiative to demobilize the
12,000-member paramilitary forces have criticized it as half-baked and one
that would allow killers and drug traffickers to escape justice.

Defenders of the process say it is the first step in removing the brutal
paramilitary forces from the battlefields.

Commanders of the paramilitary umbrella group, known as the Self- Defense
Forces of Colombia, have pledged to completely demobilize within two years,
as long as they do not face long prison terms.

That Edison managed to get into the demobilizing group underscores that the
process is not finely tuned.

The three-week decompression period also does not include job training,
even though the fighters will be thrown into Medellin's job market when
they leave.

Social workers instead are working on changing their violent ways. At one
point, they gathered to sing a popular Argentine ballad called The Color of
Hope, whose lyrics include paint my face the color of hope; look into the
future with your heart.

Once patronized by the elite, the former social club features a swimming
pool surrounding by grounds landscaped with tropical plants. The former
gunmen spent part of the day in the pool, congregating in the shallow end
because they don't know how to swim.

Rev. Leonel Narvaez, who is aiding the rehabilitation process in La Ceja,
said that despite the problems, the initiative must go forward for the sake
of Colombia and of the former fighters.

"It's a very difficult process, but it must be given a chance," Narvaez
said. "They have shown an eagerness to return to normal life."

Many of the former paramilitary gunmen have no work experience, other than
acting as hired thugs and combatants.

Most came from poor neighborhoods of Medellin, the second-largest city that
has been beset by violence since it gave birth to the brutal Medellin
cocaine cartel in the 1980s.

One 41-year-old fighter, who gave his name only as Elkin, said he had been
a hired gun for Pablo Escobar, the kingpin of the now-disbanded Medellin
cartel before he was killed in a shootout with police 10 years ago.

The Cacique Nutibara also engaged in extortion and drug trafficking.

Another militia member, who identified himself only as Jaison, said he
belonged to gangs since he was 13 and joined the paramilitary faction a
year ago.

"I've never thought about what I should do next," Jaison said. "Maybe I'll
drive a taxi."