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Critics Object to More Territorial Concessions for Colombian Guerrillas The area in question includes 2,000 square kilometers in the northern province of Bolívar, between the towns of San Pablo and Cantagallo. According to the government, the ELN will control this territory for nine months. The five countries that have been most involved in fostering the peace process, Cuba, Spain, France, Switzerland and Norway, will send a permanent commission to the area. In talks preceding the announcement, the government listed as priorities community involvement in the decision, the signing of a cease fire, the liberation of all kidnapping victims, the concentration of the ELN guerrillas in the ceded zone, and the establishment of guidelines for the process that take into account residents' concerns. Even before being officially implemented, the announcement has drawn fierce objections from sectors of public opinion critical of the state's concessions to the guerrillas. Critics point to the disastrous conditions that followed the government's last major territorial concession, to the FARC guerrillas in the southern portion of the country. Two of the most vocal critics are Asocipaz, an organization that represents residents of the Magdalena River valley in the zone in question, and a movement known as No al Despeje. These groups have threatened to block roads in the area. "We fail to understand how the government and the peace commission can speak for us," reads a communiqué from the leaders of No al Despeje. "We are the ones who should make decisions about the territory." Liberal Party leader Alvaro Uribe Vélez agrees that the concession is a bad idea. Instead of creating a special zone to meet with the guerrillas, he says, "the government could hold the peace talks in a park, a hotel or even another country." Criticism has been heard abroad, as well. At the Senate confirmation hearings for President Bush's Secretary of Defense nominee, Donald Rumsfeld, Senator John McCain expressed doubt that "the US will agree with the decision of the Colombian president to create more safe havens for the so-called 'narcoguerrillas.'" The Washington Post added that the FARC has used the territory under its control to "increase drug cultivation, plan military offensives, recruit and train troops and hold more than 450 soldiers and police captive." Other observers have pointed to some positive developments in the government's efforts to pursue peace with the ELN. Colombia's Public Ombudsman, Eduardo Cifuentes, cited a new emphasis on international human rights laws as a possible indication that "the armed sector will not affect the civilian population." An important factor that could tilt the balance of the talks in the government's favor is the ELN's own internal problems. The group is running short on resources after suffering some recent defeats, and it appears to lack active leadership. President Pastrana has pointed to the ELN's release in December of 42 people it had been holding captive as a sign of the guerrillas' commitment to negotiate. In repeated declarations to the newspaper El Tiempo, Pastrana has stressed dialogue as the only way to end the armed conflict. While proclaiming that Colombians elected him "to make peace" in their country, however, he cautioned that his government will break off the negotiations if evidence emerges that the guerrillas are involved in drug trafficking. As Monsignor
Augusto Castro has pointed out, the difference between the past and the
present in Colombia is that before there was war and no dialogue, while
today there is dialogue and the war is getting even worse. The peace
process clearly comes down to a power play, making it ever more
important for Colombia's civil society to demand a voice in the
negotiations. Until civil society assumes a more active role in the
peace process, Colombia will remain at the mercy of those committed to
violence.
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