Close to 1,000 gunmen from a Colombian far-right militia have announced plans to lay down arms, joining other outlawed fighters in a much-criticized government peace plan.
The 980-strong Heroes of Granada Block would be the largest paramilitary force to demobilize under an ambitious plan the government hopes will disarm 18,000 fighters by 2005.
"We are willing to enter the peace plan. The time to demobilize could be close or far away. It all depends on the government. We are thinking it over," the commander of the Granada Block, known as Marlon, told reporters late on Wednesday. The group operates in the northern province of Antioquia.
President Mr Alvaro Uribe is negotiating peace with the paramilitary umbrella group of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a private vigilante army known in Spanish as AUC which targets leftist rebels. The AUC is blamed for many atrocities in Colombia's 40-year war and is branded a "terrorist" group by Washington.
The talks have been criticized by national and international human rights groups, who fear the government plans to grant amnesties to paramilitary warlords.
Congress is debating a bill to allow combatants who lay down arms to serve house arrest or pay fines for atrocities. Congressional sources said the government had introduced changes to the bill to allow fighters to serve their sentences in a third country yet to be identified.
In November, a 800-strong paramilitary force known as Nutibara, which operates in the northern city of Medellin, laid down its arms. A 150-strong militia followed suit in the southwest in December.
Lending international legitimacy to the talks, the Washington-based Organization of American States has agreed to monitor the peace process with the paramilitaries.
Uribe has launched a military offensive against leftist rebels, but says he is willing to talk peace with them if they call a cease-fire.