Farm families cross river to flee violent turf battles in Colombia

 BY JORGE RUEDA
 Associated Press

 RIO DE ORO, Venezuela -- Across the river, they see their devastated ranches, dead animals and burnt homes. Sometimes, they make quick canoe trips home to
 Colombia to salvage what's left of their belongings or to search for food.

 These farm families escaped to Venezuela from rightist paramilitary forces battling to gain control of a swath of northeast Colombia from leftist guerrillas. The latest batch,
 some 400 people, fled a Jan. 26 paramilitary attack on the rebel-controlled villages of La Cooperativa, Caño Escondido, Caño Azul and La Palmita.

 They crossed the river to join earlier refugees in this remote, jungle-covered patch along the Río de Oro, or River of Gold, 100 miles from the nearest highway and 380
 miles west of Caracas.

 In this village also called Río de Oro, they live in makeshift wooden and plastic shacks. For food, they fish or make rushed trips back to their farms, escorted by guerrillas
 from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, whose control of the region has made the farmers a target.

 ``The paramilitaries are looking to exterminate us,'' said Aurelio Quiceno, a 55-year old farmer from Caño Azul. ``They are rabid, wild animals. They arrived burning houses
 and cutting up tables, chairs, beds, clothes and animals -- anything that was in their path -- with chain saws. Within a matter of minutes I lost everything I've worked for
 since 1969.''

 Colombia's Defense Ministry says the rightists were responsible for 577 of the 771 massacre victims in Colombia last year. Colombia is under pressure to cut its ties to
 paramilitary groups to get American aid, but a U.S. State Department report last week echoed human rights groups' complaints that Colombian security forces still are
 cooperating with paramilitaries.

 NO PROTECTION

 José, a 21-year-old who refused to give his last name for fear of reprisal, said the Colombian government does nothing to protect people who live in FARC-controlled
 territory or to investigate paramilitary attacks on them.

 ``They don't care because they think that we side with the guerrillas,'' he said. ``The guerrillas are the authority in the area. They help us if there is a medical emergency.
 Sometimes they ask us for food and shelter and we give it to them.''

 Since the rightist paramilitary forces launched their offensive in northeast Colombia in 1999, some 4,000 Colombian families have fled into Venezuela, according to the
 U.S. Committee for Refugees, a private, nonprofit group.

 Most of those have since returned home voluntarily, but the committee accuses Venezuela of deporting others against their will. Venezuela denies the charge, but it's
 happened before. In 1999, Venezuela deported 150 Colombian refugees who told the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees that they wanted to apply for asylum.

 Hirám Ruiz, a senior policy analyst for the nonprofit refugee committee, suggested that Venezuela wants to discourage more Colombians from fleeing across the poorly
 patrolled, 1,400-mile border. He said the committee is worried this will establish a pattern for fleeing Colombian refugees.

 ``We are worried that if one country bordering Colombia doesn't recognize the rights of refugees, other countries will do the same,'' he said.

 ESCALATION FEARED

 Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has expressed fears the refugee problem could get worse if fighting intensifies because of Plan Colombia, in which U.S.-trained
 soldiers are eradicating coca crops in rebel territory.

 After repeated protests by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and other rights groups, Venezuelan and Colombian diplomats have begun to jointly study the refugee
 problem, Colombian diplomats say.

 That's of little solace to Aurelio Quinceño, who recently took his 8-year-old daughter, Maria, back to Caño Azul to survey the damage to their farm.

 The scorched remains of their house, their land strewn with dead pigs, cows and chickens, only increased their fear of going home. They returned to the shack on the
 Venezuelan side of the river that they share with four other Colombian families. ``There is no school. I don't know how to read, and now I don't have anything to play with,
 either,'' Maria said.

                                    © 2001