Peace pessimism in Colombian press

The government has stepped up security

As the deadline given by Colombian President Andres Pastrana approached for rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to leave their safe haven or else face military action, Colombian papers debated the issues involved.

The pro-Conservative Party El Pais questions the FARC's stance.

"It is very difficult to understand the FARC's position. It devoted years and efforts towards building a favourable international image and obtained unimaginable concessions from the government and from society.

The failure of the peace talks... lies completely with the FARC.

El Pais

"Instead of taking advantage of the favourable circumstances...it has been protracting the process and disowning, completely, all that it has signed and agreed to," the paper says.

El Pais does not spare President Pastrana from criticism for his "many instances of excessive generosity" towards the rebels.

But it says that "what is indisputable is that Colombia has demonstrated ad nauseam its willingness to negotiate."

The paper is unequivocal about where the blame lies for the failure of the peace talks - "completely with the FARC."

And it sees little hope left for peace.

"If the guerrilla's intransigence persists, Colombians will then have to accept this reality and understand that the path of these negotiations has practically been exhausted, and that the FARC's attitude will leave us with no option but to pursue the war in which we have been immersed."

"In those circumstances our duty and that of all Colombians is to answer the president's call for unity and to completely rally behind our Armed Forces," the paper concludes.

Marriage of convenience

Colombia's influential, pro-Liberal Party paper, El Tiempo, is also pessimistic.

It equates the peace process with a marriage of convenience, with the FARC setting the conditions.

President Pastrana issued the deadline

"In negotiations, as in a marriage, the most important thing is respect. And here there was none."

The paper is also critical of the way the peace process has been managed.

"The two sides understand each other very little... Each one blames the other. And just like a married couple going through a separation, neither side knows when the other is leaving nor, indeed, if they want to leave."

"For all the weaknesses of the president, he is the president we have and we must think of Colombia," concludes El Tiempo.

A game of poker

El Espectador likens the government and the rebels to two poker cheats.

"The only possibility of eliminating the risk of losing is playing for a continuous draw," the paper says.

"The system, in this case the government or the state, cannot win the peace through dialogue since winning peace this way means accepting that the one who motivated the opponent to play has validity, justification and a certain historical legitimacy."

It argues that "if the state wins the peace it has to put into practice the political principles which led to the war such as redistribution of wealth, agricultural reform, redistribution of political power, etc..."

The only possibility of eliminating the risk of losing is playing for a continuous draw

El Espectador

While if the state loses the peace it "also loses all its social, political and moral legitimacy since a state that cannot maintain peace is ineffective and inefficient".

On the other hand, if the guerrilla wins the peace "it loses its reason for being an armed movement... If it wins the peace it has to be integrated into the state. This would mean it dissolves as a political power".

"For the guerrilla making peace means losing everything. For this reason it is also playing for a draw," El Espectador concludes.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.