President had called for U.N. help

BY FRANCES ROBLES

  BOGOTA - In their first missive to President Alvaro Uribe, Colombian guerrillas on Thursday rejected the notion of U.N. mediation to end the four-decade
  long conflict, and the government quickly responded with plans to hire 40,000 new police and soldiers as soon as March.

  The moves underscore the wide gap between a president and an insurgency equally determined to win a war that has plagued Colombia for nearly 40
  years. They also show that, at least for now, a negotiated solution seems out of the question.

  The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, posted an open letter to Uribe on its website Thursday, saying group leaders are not
  opposed to dialogue -- but only on their terms. In its first communiqué since the Aug. 7 inauguration, the FARC says it supports dialogue, but that Uribe's
  proposed arbiter -- the United Nations -- would be inappropriate.

  ''The conflict isn't with them, but with the Liberal-Conservative party union that impedes changes,'' the FARC wrote, referring to the mainstream parties
  that have dominated Colombian politics for decades.

  FARC rebels have waged war here for nearly 40 years, most recently stepping up a campaign of terror attacks and kidnappings in pursuit of a Marxist
  political agenda. Uribe was elected in May on the promise to bring a firm hand against rebels; they reacted by staging a bloody mortar attack on the
  presidential palace as he was sworn in.

  The Uribe administration declined to comment specifically on the FARC communiqué, but made an announcement of its own instead. Acting on powers
  granted by a recent declaration of a state of emergency, Defense Minister Martha Lucía Ramírez announced a ''shock plan'' to hire an additional 40,000
  police and soldiers by March. Of those, 15,000 would be peasants hired part time as auxiliaries.

  The peasant patrols would be in 483 cities throughout the country, including 2,000 in Bogotá, the capital.

  The Colombian government, recipient of nearly $2 billion in U.S. aid, has been widely criticized for failing to staff its armed forces adequately. The
  country's vast territory is largely unprotected, leaving huge swaths of rural countryside open to guerrilla advances.

  During his campaign, Uribe pledged to enlist 100,000 new police and soldiers. Last week, he said he would pay for the new recruits with a new levy
  imposed only on people with assets of more than $64,000.

  Human rights activists worry that the new units would not only become rebel targets, but could become allied with illegal right-wing paramilitary groups.

  ''We don't at all want people doing military activities outside the law,'' Ramírez told reporters Thursday afternoon.

  She stressed that the recruits would have to meet the same criteria for ordinary soldiers, except that they would sleep at home, work part time, and
  leave their guns at the base.

  Uribe, who broke away from the Liberal Party to launch his successful bid for the presidency, has suggested U.N. mediation and FARC parliament seats
  once the country is at peace. But the FARC insists that before any talks begin, Uribe must withdraw the military from two provinces, Caquetá and
  Putumayo.

  ''Their positions are mutual: non-negotiation,'' said León Valencia, author of Goodbye Politics, Welcome War, which details the failed peace process that
  ended earlier this year. ``The strategies on both sides are antagonistic.''

  Valencia said both ask for things they know they won't get, setting the stage for intensified warfare to last two to three years. Uribe, for his part, has
  insisted the guerrillas lay down their arms before sitting down at the peace table.

  In its Thursday letter, the FARC also demanded that the government quit referring to the group as ''terrorists'' and ''narcoterrorists,'' labels that became
  fashionable here since last year's Sept. 11 attacks. The rebels are also asking the government to crack down on anyone who promotes or finances
  paramilitaries.

  ''It's a game,'' Valencia said. ``Purely political.''

  Meanwhile, Colombia's other insurgent group, the National Liberation Army, showed no signs of letting up either. The group was blamed for this week's
  mass kidnapping of 24 people, including 18 retirees on an ecological tour of northwest Colombia. Roughly 3,000 people are kidnapped each year in
  Colombia.

  'Alvaro Uribe wants to put on a display of military force -- that puts kidnap victims' lives in danger,'' said Yolanda Pulecios, whose daughter, former
  senator and presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, was kidnapped by the FARC six months ago. ``Every time they bomb a guerrilla camp, I die of
  anguish.''