Paramilitaries refuse peace talks

(28 May 2003)

1. Various of Metro Block paramilitary soldiers around terrain
2. Various of armed men on rural road, civilian man speaks with paramilitary man
3. Various of armed men with civilian
4. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Comandante Alias Freddy, Paramilitary leader:
"After we left the AUC and became the dissident ones, there has been fighting between the AUC and us, there has been fighting from with the drug dealers and it has worsened because of the negotiation process between government and AUC. We say that this is a negotiation process between some sector of drug dealers inside AUC and Colombian government."
5. Various of school children around mountain terrain
6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Comandante Alias Freddy, Paramilitary leader:
"Well, we won't lose our perspective of fight and of solving the problems of the country, of the Country's problems. For us it's not a mater of military, it's a mater of social and political factors. We don't think that a military war would be good but if we have to do it, we will do it. Our fight is for the communities, for the country's problematic to create proposals which include a solution for Colombians and for Colombia."
6. Armed men around town
7. General view of town
8. Men on the streets
9. Armed men around town
10. Armed men along streets

STORYLINE:

A Colombian paramilitary group which controls part of Colombia's second-largest city Medellin, refused to participate in peace talks on Wednesday, threatening to derail the efforts for reconciliation.

The right-wing Metro Block said it would negotiate with the government only if leftist rebels put down their arms.

The United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, an umbrella group of outlawed militias, entered peace talks with the government after declaring a cease-fire in December.

The group, known as the AUC, has been battling leftist rebels in Colombia and is accused of committing most of the massacres in the country's four-decade civil war.

The Metro Block's militiamen, have been fighting leftist rebels for almost a decade, struggling to maintain their power in the cities and towns of northwest Colombia.

But now the renegade paramilitary group that controls parts of Medellin and much of eastern Antioquia state is anticipating a fight on a new front with its own founders.

Carlos Castano, head of the AUC and the nation's top paramilitary leader, has threatened to attack the Metro Block if it refuses to join a paramilitary cease-fire and participate in current peace talks with the government.

The Metro Block commander, known as "Rodrigo," said his men have every intention to continue fighting the rebels as well as drug trafficking generated by both sides.

Militia in the area were outwardly nonchalant about the possibility of upcoming war, going about their business as normal on Tuesday.

Nonetheless, some of the paramilitary fighters did not look forward to fighting their former mentors.

Castano is the head of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, an umbrella group of the outlawed

Nearly 1,200 of Castano's fighters have been sent to the region and will attack the Metro Block if it does not demobilise, Rodrigo said.

The 38-year-old Rodrigo, who also goes by the name "Double Zero," has said there is no reason for his paramilitary group to disarm as long as the rebels continue their 39-year fight against the government.

Paramilitary groups like the AUC arose in the 1980s to protect drug traffickers and ranchers from extortion and kidnappings by the rebels.


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