Under threat, Colombian mayors resigning

BOGOTA, Colombia -- When Huber Hernandez got word that leftist rebels had ordered him to step down as mayor of a small town in southern Colombia, he didn't think twice about typing up his resignation letter. Just a day before, a colleague from a nearby town had been killed while trying to reason with the guerrillas over a similar order.

Hernandez and several other mayors from Caqueta province plan to hand in their resignation today, the deadline the rebels gave them to pack up and leave.

Hernandez is following the lead of dozens of other mayors across Colombia who have already resigned under threat from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, in one of the rebel group's boldest challenges to the Colombian state in its four-decade-old uprising.

So far some 100 mayors have resigned this month or said they planned to after receiving letters from the 17,500-strong FARC, which warned they would be declared military targets if they failed to step down. The rebels extended the threat in many areas to all municipal officials, virtually shutting down local governments.

Over the weekend, the FARC reportedly added the mayors and city council members of the capital, Bogota, and Cali, the nation's third-largest city, to their list of threatened officials. From the relative safety of the large cities, they have refused to resign.

While mayors of rural towns have historically been targets of leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitary groups -- an average of one mayor is killed every month -- the mass threats seem to indicate a new strategy to openly challenge the Colombian state and President-elect Alvaro Uribe. Uribe, who was elected in May on promises to hit the rebels hard, takes office Aug. 7.

"They are trying to show that they have total control to put themselves in a stronger position to negotiate with the new government," said Gilberto Toro, executive director of the Colombian Federation of Municipalities.

Human rights ombudsman Eduardo Cifuentes called the strategy "the most serious threat that the FARC has launched against the Colombian state in history."

Though dozens of mayors have already tendered their resignations to the governors of Huila, Arauca, Antioquia, Risaralda, Caldas, Cauca, Santander and Putumayo provinces, none has been accepted. Despite the government pleas, 26 mayors resigned over the weekend.

Toro, from the municipalities federation, said he understands the government's position. "The state cannot just allow them (the FARC) to set up an independent territory," he said. But he called the situation a Catch-22: "The resignations can't be accepted, but we cannot ask them to let themselves be killed either."

The government has offered bulletproof cars and vests and special communications equipment to protect the mayors. It has also offered to allow them to work from military bases.

The mayors say it is not enough.

"The state says it will protect us with bulletproof cars and bodyguards, but what about our families and what happens in a year-and-a-half when my term is over? Who will protect me then?" asked Hernandez, who shut down the municipal offices in Paujil last week after many of his employees were threatened as well.

"Even if I wanted to try to manage the town from a safer city, there's no one there to carry out my orders," Hernandez said.

Nelquisede Achuri Gomez, mayor of Iznos in Huila province, said that since he resigned in early June after the FARC kidnapped two municipal officials, his town has been in "total chaos."

"Nothing is getting done because all the top officials have also left," he said from the provincial capital of Neiva, where he fled with his family.

The mayors also have a new worry: death threats from right-wing paramilitaries in some areas if they do resign.

"It all comes down now to who gets to me first," said Hernandez, the mayor of Paujil.

Although he knows his resignation won't be accepted, Hernandez plans to present it today.

"I'll send a copy to the FARC so at least they know I tried," Hernandez said. "These guys (the FARC) are serious. Why should I sacrifice my life for the state?"

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