IEWS
HE BATTALION
7A
Monday, January 14, 2002
olombia peace talks not
ufficient, could lead to war
LOS POZOS, Colombia (AP)
President Andres Pastrana end-
kl the peace process Saturday, say-
jng'ihe 1 Ith-hour proposal from
[lie Revolutionary Armed Forces
bf Colombia “is not sufficient.”
“The proposal only refers to
lilready agreed to issues,” Pas-
Irana said in a nationally broad-
last address.
Pastrana gave the rebel army,
^nown as the FARC, 4X hours,
eginning at 9:30 p.m. Saturday,
i vacate the vast rebel safe haven
fe granted them three years ago
;acondition for the peace talks.
Many feared the end of the
sace talks could lead to an esca-
ition in Colombia’s 38-year civ-
war. Roughly 3,500 people die
[very year in the violence, most
If them civilians.
Pastrana appeared to give the
fARC another chance to save the
kace process, saying the countiy
[nly will accept peace talks it
lere is a cease in hostilities, in-
[ludiny kidnappings.
“Only a public manifesta-
ton in that sense can stop the
jlock." he said.
The president had given U.N.
Invoy James LeMoyne until Sat-
Irday night to restart peace talks.
I A few minutes after the dead
line expired, FARC leaders re
leased their proposal, in which
they appeared to drop demands
that the military immediately
end overflights of the zone and
controls on its borders. The
FARC walked away from peace
talks in October after the mili
tary controls were initiated.
In the draft agreement, they
proposed that complaints of
“threats” along its borders be ex
amined by a special commission.
In this crucial
moment of the
history of our
country, we need
tolerance
— Mauricio
veteran rebel
The government has refused
to discontinue the overflights
and increased patrols, claiming
the FARC was misusing the
zone to hide hostages and run a
drug business.
Earlier Saturday, a car bomb
exploded near the wall of a mil
itary base a few miles north of
the rebel haven, injuring 15
civilians, the army news agency
said. Troops had been arriving at
the base in the town of Granada
ahead of the deadline. No one
immediately claimed responsi
bility for the blast.
Before the decision was an
nounced, prayers for peace were
held in the Roman Catholic
church in the zone’s main town,
San Vicente del Caguan. The
church was packed with local
politicians, firefighters, busi
nessmen. ranchers, housewives
and children carrying small
white paper signs saying,
“Peace.”
“In this crucial moment of the
history of our country, we need
tolerance,” said the Rev. Miguel
Angel Sema, who called for dia
logue rather than fighting.
He lashed out at military lead
ers of both sides for waging war.
“Good people — humble
campesinos, humble rebel fight
ers and humble soldiers — have
died in combat, but not the big
leaders,” Serna said. “It is the
good who fall.”
At the closest military base to
the zone, an army commander
said reinforcements had poured
in over the past few days.
Army Maj. Geraldo Cano,
chief of operations for the Hunter
Battalion based in the town of
Florencia, said the soldiers were
ready to move into the zone at a
moment's notice.
NEWS IN BRIEF
President chokes on pretzel
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush fainted
briefly in the White House residence Sunday after
choking on a pretzel while watching a National
Football League playoff game on television, White
House physician Dr. Richard Tubb said.
The doctor, an Air Force colonel, said Bush
quickly recovered and is doing well.
Tubbs said Bush suffered an abrasion on his
left cheek the size of a half dollar and a bruise on
his lower lip, apparently from falling onto the floor
from a couch.
The fainting spell occurred at approximately
5:35 p.m. EST and Bush contacted a nurse on duty
at the White House five minutes later. Tubbs was
paged eight minutes later and rushed to the White
House to examine the president.
Tubbs said Bush, under his own power, took
an elevator from the second floor of the residence
to the first floor doctor's office where he under
went a through examination that included use of
a heart monitor.
He said Bush had complained Saturday and
Sunday of "being a little off nis game," feeling that
he was coming down with a head cold.
White House spokesman Ari Fleisher said Bush
intended to keep his regular schedule Monday,
which includes an early morning trip to the Midwest.
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