Pastrana criticised for FARC deal

Bogota - The commander of Colombia's right-wing paramilitaries accused President Andres Pastrana yesterday of making too many…

Bogota - The commander of Colombia's right-wing paramilitaries accused President Andres Pastrana yesterday of making too many concessions to Marxist rebels in his quest to end 37 years of war.

Mr Carlos Castano, whose outlawed United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) killed more than 1,500 people it suspected of aiding leftwing rebels last year alone, said Mr Pastrana had failed to extract anything concrete from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The centre-right President, who has devoted his government to trying to end a war which claimed 35,000 civilian lives in the past 10 years alone, struck a 13-point deal last Friday with the FARC to resume two-year-old formal peace talks.