Hundreds of Colombian troops marched into the towns of a former Marxist rebel enclave today, taking control for the first time in three years ahead of a visit by President Andres Pastrana.
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A man cries as he sits next to his three relatives (a man and two children), killed during a bombing raid against an alleged rebel camp in the village of El Rubi. Photo: Reuters
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Just before dawn, about 300 heavily armed Rapid Deployment Force troops marched single file into the southern town of San Vicente, the biggest in the FARC enclave, just days after Mr Pastrana ordered the invasion of the area after the collapse of peace talks.
In the four other towns of the former rebel enclave, troops were also taking over.
Mr Pastrana was due to fly to San Vicente today to declare the Switzerland-sized chunk of ranch land and jungle under government control again after being off-limits to the state.
Military sources said 12,000 soldiers were involved in the mission, dubbed Operation Thanatos after the Greek god of death, and promised to protect the area's 100,000 civilians.
After an audacious plane hijacking and kidnap of a senator on Wednesday, Mr Pastrana ordered troops to retake the enclave he ceded to the FARC in late 1998 to spur peace talks.
The peace talks were widely unpopular among Colombians because they failed to stop violence which raged unchecked outside the rebel zone. Mr Pastrana branded the FARC terrorists and accused them of using their zone to hide kidnap victims, run a cocaine trade and train their 17,000-strong forces.
Colombia's 38-year war pits leftist rebels against paramilitaries and state security forces and has claimed 40,000 lives in the last decade alone.