The Colombian Government and the national army are led by Andres Pastrana, a former journalist-cum- president who declares himself dedicated to finding peace, and who actually has tried to negotiate several times with guerrilla groups.

Pastrana has shown himself willing to compromise with the guerrillas now, but he is relatively new to the political scene; previous governments have not been as accommodating. In the late 80s, when the drug-trade started to become a billion dollar business, the cash-strapped Colombian government found itself increasingly out-firepowered by these rebel groups - and totally unable to stop the kidnappings, robberies, and other extortion crimes the guerrillas were committing in the name of their cause. Chastised both internally and by foreign powers for its ineffectiveness, the Colombian military unleashed more violence against the rural population, which it accused of supporting the rebels, and allowed paramilitary groups - vigilante death squads operating with the tacit approval of the government - to steal and rob from villages with impunity while ostensibly looking for "guerrillas."

Today, the vicious cycle of violence in Colombia continues. The conflicts, once ideology driven, have degenerated into a power struggle between two warring factions. The extremely powerful drug lords who have aligned themselves with guerrilla groups and control huge tracts of land in the northern and southern sections of Colombia, and the ruling elite class of Colombia, who make a show of adhering to democratic principles through president Pastrana’s attempts at negotiating, but also covertly fund and support the ever-growing right wing paramilitary movement.

It remains to be seen if Pastrana’s peace-making efforts are sincere. Certainly he has made more attempts to open discussions with the guerrilla groups, but at the same time, he has not made any effort to halt the paramilitary and government armies, thus perpetuating the ongoing pattern of attack - counter attack between old enemies. Caught between these two dominating sectors lies the entirety of the middle and lower class Colombians, victims in a war they never asked for and certainly don’t support.