Army Driving Out Rebels, Claims Colombian

The Colombian army is regaining control of towns and roads previously ceded to rebels and rightwing paramilitaries, the country's vice-president insisted as he left London yesterday after seeking international support for the war against drugs.

Francisco Santos, a former newspaper editor, admitted that the security forces had "made mistakes" and been responsible for human rights abuses in the past. But he insisted that any links with the paramilitaries had been severed.

His comments came as trade union leaders and a former Foreign Office minister protested outside parliament at continuing British military support for the Colombian government.

"I'm not trying to paint a rosy picture of the army," Mr Santos said. "But the army has changed dramatically. Consciousness about human rights is much deeper. The paramilitaries are as much terrorists as the Farc [the main leftwing, rebel group]; we have to demobilise both. The number of paramilitaries captured or killed in combat has doubled since we came to power." Since last May, following the collapse of peace negotiations with the rebels and the election of a government led by president Alvaro Uribe, the number of kidnappings had fallen by 36% and murders by 20%, he said. More than 800 fighters had deserted illegal armed groups.

Mr Santos, who spent eight months as a hostage after being kidnapped in 1990 by Pablo Escobar, then head of the Medellin drug cartel, was a surprise choice for vice-president.

Protests

He has organised protests against kidnapping and terrorism, including a march involving 10 million Colombians. In 2000, he fled to Spain after receiving death threats from the Farc.

The security drive is reasserting government rule in remote towns, he said. "We had 170 towns where there was no police or army before. Now they have police and garrisons. For years people wouldn't leave their towns because of rebel kidnappings. Now we have control of roads again."

But the main target is cocaine production, which is financing the Farc and paramilitary violence. "If we want to finish the conflict we have to eliminate drugs," Mr Santos stressed. "We have to send out the message that we will not tolerate one hectare of illegal crops."

Most of the cocaine reaching Britain comes from Colombia. The two-day conference hosted by the Foreign Office was designed to coordinate support for Colombia from the EU, US, UN and other donor nations. "Drugs are fuelling the conflict," Mr Santos said. "The Farc and paramilitaries are making as much as $500m a year. The EU can help in the battle against drugs and help our democracy, which is under siege."

Colombia is seeking financial and humanitarian support from Britain, but Mr Santos acknowledged it also receives expert help on bomb disposal and intercepting cocaine smugglers. "Would we want more military assistance? Yes. This is a battle against powerful [paramilitary and rebel] organisations which kill thousands of Colombians every year."

The Colombian government believes Farc rebels have forged links with the Basque separatist movement, ETA, and the Provisional IRA in Northern Ireland. Three Irish republicans are on trial in Bogota on charges of training Farc recruits. The Belfast connections work both ways: the Colombians have sought advice from Spanish police and the security forces in Northern Ireland on reinforcing police stations against terrorist attack.

The political link with Britain is close, Mr Santos added. "I think Uribe and Blair clicked. Uribe is the same kind of social democrat who thinks authority is absolutely necessary to ensure the rule of law."

Earlier this week, the general secretaries of 12 British trade unions, the anti-poverty charity War on Want and the former Foreign Office minister Tony Lloyd, protested outside parliament at British support for Mr Uribe. "The present government [in Bogota] is the most rightwing we have known for years," said Mr Lloyd, formerly minister for relations with Latin America. "The Colombian armed forces cannot be trusted. They have worked hand in glove with the paramilitaries for years. We need to send a clear message that we need to keep the Colombian regime at arm's length."

But in a letter to the Guardian, the Foreign Office minister, Bill Rammell, defended the government's involvement with Colombia, arguing it was better than a "strategy of isolation".