A letter from the Marxist-inspired Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, asked for a meeting with U.N. representative James LeMoyne to explain "a much more objective reality of Colombia's internal conflict."
"We are interest in explaining to you and your organization our opinions and proposals for solutions to avoid unnecessary deaths of more compatriots," said the letter, dated Thursday and said to be sent from the "Mountains of Colombia."
A U.N. spokesman told Reuters, "The secretary-general has been informed of a communication of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and considers it to be positive."
"He has always made clear that his good offices are available to the parties," the spokesman said.
LeMoyne, a former journalist and U.N. peace envoy, is Annan's special adviser on Colombia, a South American nation torn by nearly four decades of war between government forces, left-wing rebels and outlawed right-wing paramilitary groups.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has previously asked Annan to help find a way to end the conflict driven by a seemingly unstoppable trade in illegal drugs.
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May. 21, 2003 - Debate surrounds U.N. (James LeMoyne) envoy Colombia quip *** BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombia's biggest rebel group says it is fighting on behalf of the poor for "a new Colombia." Authorities say they're just drug-trafficking bandits who kill innocent civilians.
So when U.N. special envoy James LeMoyne told a newspaper over the weekend he believes some of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, rebels are ideologically committed, he touched off a storm of controversy.
Defense Minister Martha Lucia Ramirez accused LeMoyne of "defending the interests of terrorists." Shocked business leaders accused LeMoyne of being out of touch with reality.
"What is certain is that (the guerrillas) are destroying the nation ... and we must end the debate," Eugenio Marulanda, head of the National Confederation of Chambers of Commerce, said Tuesday. "We are tired of hearing Mr. LeMoyne, who says many things that are true and other things that don't correspond with reality."
LeMoyne, in unusually blunt comments to two Colombian newspapers over the weekend, suggested the upper classes are not making enough sacrifices in Colombia's war, now in its 39th year. Most of the government soldiers fighting in the jungles and mountains of this South American country are the children of the poor.
"I have two questions for the upper class of this country to respond to," LeMoyne told the newspaper El Tiempo. "First: Are your sons, nephews or grandsons in the army? ... Who makes the sacrifices in this country when there is combat?"
LeMoyne also asked if the rich pay enough taxes, to better distribute the wealth in a country where 64 percent of its 44 million people live in poverty. He asserted that it is "a mistake to think that the FARC members are only drug traffickers and terrorists."
Those comments outraged many in government. Ramirez, the defense minister, noted that the rebels execute hostages - including a state governor, a former defense minister and eight captive soldiers who were killed on May 5 as the army tried to rescue them.
"What ideological commitment can justify a massacre of that nature?" Ramirez asked.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's spokesman defended LeMoyne on Wednesday at a news briefing in New York.
"It was not Mr. LeMoyne's intention to take sides," said spokesman Fred Eckhard. "If what he said was interpreted in that way, I think he is seeking to assure the government that he was not taking sides."
Polls regularly show little support for the rebels among Colombians.***
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LeMoyne took sides a long time ago.