COLOMBIA'S CYBER (UN)CIVIL WAR

After Colombia's largest guerilla group hijacked a commercial plane and
kidnapped a senator last week, the government called off peace talks and
sent troops to take back a Switzerland-sized chunk of territory it ceded to
the rebels in 1998.

But even as their foot soldiers clash in Colombia's thick jungles, the
leaders of the government and the rebel forces are waging a second, equally
crucial battle in cyberspace to conquer public opinion.

On their multi-lingual website, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC) lambaste the government's move, rally their foreign supporters, and
swear to fight to the finish.

"Once more the Colombian oligarchy impedes the dialogue that would allow
the structural, economic, political, social and military changes that
Colombia requires to escape the profound crisis that liberal and
conservative governments have historically mired it in," wrote FARC
commandos, in a press release published on their site, the day after
President Andres Pastrana ended negotiations in a televised speech.

The Marxist-inspired group, formed in 1964, goes on to enumerate the public
works it has completed in its southern stronghold.

"The FARC-EP built with its own hands bridges and roads that the state
refused to build for 36 years."

The Colombian military has responded to the FARC's online offensive by
publishing photographs of the hundreds of soldiers and police officers
kidnapped and killed by rebels as well as a multimedia presentation of the
campaign to drive the group from its lair.

After the FARC was condemned in the international press for kidnapping
presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt last weekend, the group published
an online editorial criticizing the "channels of disinformation" and
renewing vows to overthrow the government.

"While there is no definitive solution to the great injustices suffered by
our people, while resources are spent on war and not peace, we will
continue forward in the conquest of power for the construction of the New
Colombia," the site reads.

The FARC is one of the three rebel groups in Colombia, all of which are
designated "foreign terrorist organizations" by the U.S. State Department.
The United Self-Defense Forces (AUC) and the National Liberation Army also
have websites.

Colombia's 35-year-old civil war has killed an estimated 38,000 Colombians
and left up to 2 million homeless.

The FARC's site contains pages of rambling rhetoric on topics ranging from
agrarian reform to the legalization of drugs. The group also distributes
fiery communiques to journalists and supporters through a Yahoo newsgroup
with the picturesque yet vague dateline "the Colombian mountains."

Since Pastrana called off the peace talks, the FARC has gone on a rampage,
blowing up electricity towers, phone antennas and bridges as they retreat
from the advancing government troops. Many civilians have been stranded in
the former-guerilla stronghold, afraid to venture out on the
landmine-studded roads, and only able to communicate with the outside world
through their mobile phones, according to local press accounts.

The FARC, which has grown rich by extorting money from the coca farmers and
kidnapping wealthy Colombians and foreigners, is generally reviled in
Colombia. According to an online poll published Sunday afternoon by the
leading daily, El Tiempo, 93 percent of 17,000 respondents supported the
president's decision to stop negotiating with the FARC.

Since the rupture, the military has also stepped up its online rhetoric,
increasingly referring to the guerrilla groups as terrorists and asking
Colombia's 40 million residents for moral support.

"Now more than ever the Government of Colombia requires national unity to
achieve peace," the site states. "We invite all our compatriots to join us
in the fight to resist the terrorism of the FARC, the ELN and the AUC.

The military produced a snappy, MTV-style commercial to publicize its
website, featuring camouflaged soldiers parachuting from helicopters,
rappelling down cliffs, and running around with large guns as hard-rock
music thuds in the background.

"It's possible that you still don't know all we're doing for you," a man's
voice says in the video. "Find out more about our work at
www.fuerzasmilitares.mil.co."