REUTERS

Sunday, 19 July 1998


                Colombia rebels still dream of socialism
                ----------------------------------------


BOGOTA -- The winds of peace blowing across Colombia have not changed 
the socialist dreams of Marxist rebels or their belief that political power
grows from the barrel of a gun, a guerrilla leader said in a weekend
interview.

Milton Hernandez, a senior member of the National Liberation Army  (ELN),
said the rebel force's recent decision to seek a negotiated end to the
country's long-running conflict did not mean it was about to surrender to
president-elect Andres Pastrana.

"We have not renounced our aspirations for a socialist society and are
still looking at the battle for power," Hernandez told Reuters in a phone
interview from Germany where he has been taking part in preliminary peace
talks.

"We continue to be a politico-military organisation and believe that
weapons can never be abandoned in the political struggle," he added.

Hernandez was one of the Cuban-inspired ELN's top negotiators during talks
with Colombian business, religious and labour leaders in Wuerzburg,
Germany, a week ago.

The meeting, in a 13th Century Carmelite convent, mapped out the path to a
full-fledged peace process which will formally begin on Oct. 12 -- when
some 200 civic leaders are due to hold talks with rebel commanders in a
demilitarized area of Colombia.

Some political analysts have suggested that the ELN, which was set up in
1964 and now numbers some 5,000 combatants, was forced to the negotiating
table as a result of growing ultra- right death squad attacks on rebel
support bases.

Hernandez, however, rejected those claims and said the ELN, and the larger
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which has also agreed to
take part in peace talks, were negotiating from a position of strength.

"Colombia's guerrillas are the strongest in the hemisphere and among the
strongest in the world. Sitting down to negotiate isn't a sign of weakness
but a sign of power," he said.

"In a war we must measure our political and military strengths...otherwise
we could end up becoming military fanatics," the rebel chief added.

The FARC, which has some 15,000 men under arms, has said it will hold
talks directly with Pastrana when he takes office on Aug. 7.

But the ELN has said it will continue to meet civic leaders and only later
sit down with Pastrana depending on his specific proposals rather than
handing him a "blank check" to make peace as he sees fit.

The ELN has said foreign help is "vital" in the search for an end to the
conflict which has claimed more than 35,000 lives in the last 10 years
alone.

But Hernandez said neither the United States nor Britain -- both of whom
have offered to shepherd the peace process -- had the "moral authority" to
do so because of what he called their support for the Colombian
government's "war machine."

Both the FARC and the ELN have seen their political and military power
surge during President Ernesto Samper's four-year term and are now
estimated to control as much as half the country.

It is precisely that power that could make a peace deal on rebel terms
hard to swallow for the government and the country's political and
economic elites.

The ELN has said it intends to maintain its role as "authority and state"
in its zones of influence and Hernandez ruled out demobilization --
raising fears in some political quarters that the rebels are looking for
self-governing enclaves.

"There is no question of handing over our weapons before or after any
peace deal. We will not hand over a single bullet or even a photo of our
guns," a defiant Hernandez said.

        Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited