(10 Sep 2000) Spanish/Nat
XFA
Thousands of Colombians, including business leaders, union activists and ordinary families, took to the streets of the capital Sunday to call for an end to decades of war.
The demonstrators, waving white flags signifying peace, filled an avenue of the capital and headed to the colonial Plaza de Bolivar in the center of the city.
200 civic groups organised the march.
Unofficial counts of the number of marchers ranged as high as 20,000.
Along with more than 30 years of war between leftist rebels and the government, Colombia has one of the highest murder and kidnapping rates in the world.
And right-wing paramilitary squads have been killing an increasing number people suspected of
sympathizing with the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and the National Liberation Army, called the ELN.
In the first eight months of this year, 1,389 civilians have been killed by either the two main rebel armies or the paramilitary squads, according to the government human rights office.
The demonstration came as peace talks between the government and rebel groups have stalled, and as the United States is pumping dlrs 1.3 billion in mostly military aid to Colombia to fight the drug industry.
Among the marchers were children who carried large photos of their fathers who are soldiers or police and are being held captive by the FARC.
The rebel group currently holds more than 500 security force members captive and has offered to free them in exchange for the release of rebels held by the government.
The government of President Andres Pastrana has refused to take part in this deal.
Despite voices of hope at the march, few expect the deepening spiral of violence to end soon.
The FARC, the biggest rebel group, which earns millions of dollars a week in protecting and taxing producers of cocaine and heroin in Colombia, has vowed to combat Pastrana's US-backed initiative to seize Colombia's drug-producing areas.
The paramilitaries, which have links to the Colombian army, have also stepped up actions against the rebels.
Civilians are increasingly being caught in the crossfire.
Nearly 2 million Colombians have fled their homes over the past 15 years, 288,000 last year alone.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"I think that all Colombians are participating, looking for a ceasefire, the ending of hostilities and seeking out humanitarian agreements."
SUPERCAPTION: Javier Vernal Cuellar, Procurador of the Republic****
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"The more violence there is the more determined we will be. And for the first time, all Colombians are uniting. And the power of unity will bring peace. We have to build it. Peace is an opportunity, its unity, we have to work at it. That's why the guerilla and the peace negotiators that we are here to demand rules which will stop peace becoming lost amidst the conflict.
SUPERCAPTION: (Spanish) Noemi Sanin, ex presidential candidate
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"Because I want to unite my voice with millions of other Colombians who want peace and we are ready to carry on fighting against violence of any kind. And so that there may soon be an accord with the guerilla."
SUPER CAPTION: Horacio Serpa, former presidential candidate and Secretary General for the opposition - Partido Liberal
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