| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
_WORLD WATCH______________________________
______________________COLOMBIA____________________
Bishops at odds
Conflicting messages to government
Late in January, the archbishop of San Vicente del Caguan in Colombia warned of a coming renewal of the war between the South American country’s government and powerful left-wing rebels.
“There won’t be combat between the two sides, but a dirty war,” said Archbishop Francisco Javier Munera of San Vicente del Caguan, the main town in the zone the rebels control. “If the peace process is interrupted, we will have an apocalypse.”
The archbishop made his comments as the Colombian army deployed more troops toward the borders of a rebel-controlled region of the country—an area the size of Switzerland. Rebel forces of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country’s largest rebel group, had also started mobilizing as the peace process apparently collapsed. Control of the region had been ceded to the rebels by President Andres Pastrana two years ago in an effort to jump-start peace talks. Archbishop Munera urged Pastrana and FARC leader Manuel Marulanda to meet and resume negotiations which had broken down in November 2000.
Pope John Paul II also joined in the plea for renewed peace talks. “I am also asking all parties to promote an effective and honest dialogue,” the Pope said in a special appeal during a regular weekly public audience. “It is time to return to the Lord of Life, so that he moves the hearts of Colombians and makes them understand that they are one large family.”
However, Bishop Nel Beltran of Sincelejo strongly argued that the government should take active measures to resume control over the region that is now controlled by FARC. The “demilitarized zone,” the bishop pointed out, “was created as a means to secure lively and steady peace negotiations.” But in fact, he observed, “Colombians have not gotten any peace and FARC had obtained a dangerous strategic advantage.” Portions of Bishop Beltran’s diocese are located in the FARC-controlled territory.
“All means to achieve piece by dialogue must be tried, but if FARC does not show a clear will to start a peace process, the government must recover that area,” the bishop said. “Otherwise, it would be sending a dangerous signal of weakness.”
Bishop Beltran made his remarks during a press conference in Bogota where he attended meetings of a council that is investigating the mass murder of peasants in Montes de Maria, another area of his diocese. The crime has been attributed to right-wing paramilitary groups. “The main victims of these confrontations are innocent civilians who are caught between the fire,” Bishop Beltran said. “Therefore, if no fruit (on the peace talks) is achieved, the state must recover control of the demilitarized area.”