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Negotiating
for Peace, Planning for War
Underlying the entire two-year peace process with the FARC are on-going
preparations for war by both the rebels and state security forces.
The FARC realize the government will not cede to all their demands.
For them, the peace process is a display window for their political
platform and a diplomatic showcase. Rebel chieftains vow they will
not compromise; they insist they want to run the government and
will not settle for cabinet or congressional posts.
Equally important, the 16,000 square mile demilitarized zone, is
a vital strategic rearguard in military terms where the rebels have
been able to recruit, train, and resupply. They have also used the
area as a launch pad for attacks across the rest of the country.
All that dovetails with intensive plans for what the FARC calls
its "first great offensive," a two-pronged attack on Bogotá
from the east and south in a bid to topple the government and batter
the military. " We know how many men we would need and how
many millions of dollars it would cost to carry it out," rebel
commander Buendía said in a rare interview about a year ago.
Buendía is head of the FARC’s Che Guevara Mobile Column
and a senior commander of the FARC’s feared Eastern Bloc fighting
division.
No deadline has been set for an all-out attack on Bogotá.
General Woerner described the plan as "Disneyland South,"
and pointed to the FMLN guerrillas’ failure to take San Salvador
in their "Final Offensive." But expert negotiators point
out that it is the perception that either side has of its own military
strength – rather than the reality – that is the key factor
in dictating how much the rivals will cede in political negotiations.
Hand-in-hand with the military build-up, FARC commanders have been
working in secret to build a political base among unions, grassroots
social organizations, student groups, and neighborhood committees
in both urban and rural areas. The organization, known as the Bolivarian
Movement For A New Colombia and named after South American independence
hero Simón Bolivar, operates clandestinely to avoid the murder
of its members by state security forces and paramilitary groups
as occurred with the Patriotic Union (UP).
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