Colombian Rebel Chief Says Threats Made Him Miss Talks

          By DIANA JEAN SCHEMO

          SAN VICENTE DEL CAGUAN, Colombia -- The commander of the largest rebel force in
          Colombia sought out government officials and foreign dignitaries here Friday, saying that he
          was committed to seeing talks progress to end the civil war. He said he was absent from a ceremony
          on Thursday to start the effort because of death threats.

          The commander, Manuel Marulanda, who has been living in the mountains since 1949, appeared
          unexpectedly Friday morning outside town, Deputy Labor Minister Fabio Palacio said.

          Palacio said he and the chief of the security detail for President Andres Pastrana were on their way
          at 6 a.m. to obtain security equipment when Marulanda showed up to talk to them.

          The commander, Palacio recounted, said that his group had information that sharpshooters would
          make an attempt on his life and that he mixed in the crowd that watched the ceremony.

          Palacio quoted Marulanda as describing the peace talks as "a long road, but a positive one for the
          country."

          "He also said," Palacio recalled, "the most important thing that happened yesterday was the initiation
          of a process of peace and that that was more important than his appearance and that there would be
          other opportunities for him to meet the president."

          The failure to attend what Pastrana called "an appointment with history" had initially appeared as a
          humiliation of the new president, who is staking his career on forging peace with the rebels.

          Pastrana met Marulanda before taking office in August and pledged to remove security forces from
          an area twice the size of El Salvador to allow a dialogue with the rebels. The festivities on Thursday
          were supposed to begin talks to build a peace with the rebels, who have been battling government
          forces for 35 years.

          The guerrilla's actions away from the limelight appeared geared toward reversing any ill will created
          by Marulanda's absence. Palacio said that Marulanda had met negotiators designated by the
          government for talks scheduled to begin Saturday.

          The commander also hastened to meet invited foreign delegates on Thursday night and Friday
          morning. A Nicaraguan legislator, Jacinto Suarez, said Marulanda had spoken to delegations from
          Costa Rica, Italy, Mexico, Nicaragua and other countries, stressing his desire for peace.

          "The first question everybody asked was why he didn't come, and he said that they had intelligence
          that there would be an attempt on his life," Suarez said. "He said they're engaged in this process and
          they're not asking for the participation of anybody else for the moment. That this is a process that
          Colombians have to work out."

          Colombia is trying to end the carnage that has claimed 35,000 lives in 10 years. The fighting has
          been between the government, paramilitary forces that defend landowners, who frequently enjoy
          complicity of the army, and leftist guerrillas. The war, fought largely through attacks on civilian
          populations, has displaced more than 1.2 million farm workers.

          Human rights groups attribute 70 percent of the political killings in Colombia to the paramilitary
          groups, but all sides have been implicated.

          The rebels have made bold incursions into areas widely considered to be a stronghold of right-wing
          paramilitary forces, including one in Nudo de Paramillo that led to false reports that the rebels had
          killed the top paramilitary leader, Carlos Castano.

          Castano contacted a radio station in Medellin this week to promise revenge, suggesting that the
          rebels may have taken the death threats especially seriously.

          In addition, a unilateral cease-fire that the paramilitary chief had declared to demonstrate his will for
          peace expired, oddly, on Wednesday.

          Palacio said the top rebel had been in a house 10 minutes from the town square on Thursday.
          Palacio told a few reporters that two sharpshooters were arrested minutes before he was to appear
          alongside Pastrana.