DATE=5/30/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=COLOMBIA REBELS
NUMBER=5-46399
BYLINE=RHODA METCALFE
DATELINE=BOGOTA
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Colombia's largest guerrilla group, known as
the FARC, took another bold step this month toward
setting itself up as an alternative government. The
rebels have demanded that any Colombian with assets of
one-million U-S dollars or more must pay a percentage
to the rebels' so-called "fight for freedom." Citizens
who refuse to pay this illegal tax can expect to be
kidnapped until they do. Rhoda Metcalfe reports fear
is even pervading the middle class.
TEXT: /// SOUND: Loud sewing machine noise ///
At a design shop in Bogota, the women in the sewing
room have had to pick up the pace. Manipulating huge
industrial machines, they're making bulletproof vests.
They can hardly keep up with the demand. Company
owner Miguel Caballero says it was the guerrillas'
announcement earlier this month of the tax on
millionaires that suddenly sent business soaring.
/// FIRST CABALLERO ACT ///
Before this law we sold more or less 12 pieces
per week. In this moment, we are selling 20
units per day. It's terrific for me. It's a big
business, no?
/// END ACT ///
But now, he says it's not just company presidents who
are buying the 500-dollar bulletproof vests.
/// SECOND CABALLERO ACT ///
Normal people on the streets are buying these
kind of clothes.
The guerrillas' penchant for kidnapping to fund their
war has long been a problem in Colombia. It has driven
the wealthy to live an increasingly sequestered life.
/// SOUND -- ELEVATOR DING, DOORS OPEN, SOUND OF BEING
BUZZED INTO OFFICE ///
At the head office of a prosperous construction
company, the president's suite is tucked securely into
the ninth floor, with a commanding view of the city.
He has three bodyguards just outside the door. The
executive, who has already been kidnapped once, does
not want to be named. He drives an armored car, and
goes nowhere without his bodyguards. To outwit
potential kidnappers, he keeps his agenda
unpredictable.
/// FIRST EXECUTIVE ACT ///
That's quite difficult actually, because I love
to have a routine. You wake up, you drink your
coffee, you read the paper and you go to the
office and nothing happens in between. But then
you say, okay I've got to take a different
route and I have to look out if there's someone
on the street that I haven't seen before, Or
why are there so many taxis now and why there
are these people? So you're constantly on the
lookout.
/// END ACT ///
The company president used to be married. But he says
his wife -- a European woman -- couldn't stand being
caged in by the security. She didn't want their
daughter growing up in the shadow of fear. So they
left.
/// OPT SECOND EXECUTIVE ACT ///
You can only go to a specific park or to the
country club and that's it. I mean, what are
you going to do with a three-year old kid?
Coming from school, you go to your apartment and
you lock her in and if she wants to play, she
probably goes downstairs to the garage and plays
ball in the middle of the garage. And that's it.
What kind of life is that?
/// END OPT ACT ///
But it's the kind of life to which the Colombian rich
have grown accustomed. Which is why when the
guerrillas declared their new pay-or-be-kidnapped tax
it was not the wealthy so much as the comfortably
middle class who panicked.
/// SOUND -- Breakfast conversation, music in the
background ///
Fernando and his wife are one of those middle-class
Colombian couples who suddenly woke up to realize they
may be on the guerrillas' target list. Not so much for
what they have, but what they owe. Fernando's an
artist, but he stays afloat by renting out apartments
in two heavily mortgaged buildings.
/// FIRST FERNANDO ACT ///
The part that worries me the most is that
everything I have belongs to the bank. And I'm
sure that the FARC doesn't know that. If I'm
kidnapped tomorrow -- and that's a big
possibility -- how am I going to show that they
don't belong to me, when they are written in my
name?
/// END ACT ///
With this new threat over his head, Fernando says he'd
sell -- if the real estate market were not in such a
slump. He'd move the money out of the country, lower
his financial profile, and avoid any new projects.
/// OPT ///
/// SECOND FERNANDO ACT ///
And that's what everyone is doing. I know it's
terrible for the country, for the country's
economy. It's really bad.
/// END ACT ///
Many analysts like security expert Bill Nixon believe
the guerrillas' income tax is a sign the rebels are
trying to project a new image as a legitimate
alternative state.
/// NIXON ACT ///
They've now got their own private areas.
They're now declaring themselves as a government
of Colombia. But what a statement! It has
certainly put the shivers up the backs of the
international community.
/// END ACT ///
/// END OPT ///
Colombian President Andres Pastrana was slow to
respond to the rebels' announcement. When he did, he
offered no protection to the 200-thousand Colombians
who are estimated to be in this million-dollar-asset
category.
For many now, the question is how will the FARC
discover who's really got a million. So far, they've
operated largely on rumors about who's rich and who's
not. The fear is that the guerrillas may one day
infiltrate Colombia's tax department -- where
everyone's financial records are on file. Security
there is far from tight - and no one doubts the
guerrillas have the means to do it. But they may not
believe the tax returns anyway. (Signed)
NEB/rm/gm/KBK
30-May-2000 10:56 AM EDT (30-May-2000 1456 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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