Violence, kidnappings threaten Colombia elections

Taken to a camp of the leftist National Liberation Army, Bastides was questioned about his political agenda by a rebel chief identified as Commandante Alex. Bastides was kept in an abandoned house with about 300 armed rebels stationed outside. Five days later he was freed.

The 30-year-old lawyer and college professor's ordeal was but one example _ and not the worst _ of armed groups putting pressure on candidates before Colombia's provincial and municipal elections on Oct. 29.

Seeking to strengthen their grip on large swaths of the countryside, guerrillas and rival right-wing paramilitary bands are using death threats, kidnappings and even assassinations to influence the outcome of the elections.

Twenty mayoral aspirants have been assassinated and about 100 kidnapped this year, according to Gilberto Toro, director of the Colombian Federation of Municipalities. He says armed groups are pressuring candidates in more than half of the country's 1,089 municipalities.

The campaign of intimidation comes at a critical juncture. The voting, for town counselors, mayors and governors, is seen as a test of Colombia's embattled democracy and an opportunity to attack corruption and poverty that helps justify the rebel cause.

"The issues that these politicians will be dealing with will have a profound effect on the future of our country," says political science professor Fernando Giraldo of Bogota's Javeriana University.

Along with demanding political allegiance, the guerrillas and paramilitary groups are reportedly squeezing promises from candidates to donate money to their insurgencies, fix roads or improve living conditions for the poor.

Bastides, the candidate of the opposition Liberal Party from Samaniego, maintains the intimidation didn't work with him. He was abducted Sept. 23 with town's current mayor and six other mayoral candidates from the southern town in Narino state.

In a telephone interview, he said they were asked by the rebels about their plans if they win and their thoughts on growing U.S. ties to the Colombian military, a policy the rebels strongly oppose.

"I told them that I wanted to clean up city hall and that I wanted to convince coca growers in the area to switch crops," said Bastides. The guerrillas favor that approach _ called "alternative development" _ over U.S.-backed forced eradication of cocaine-producing crops through spraying with herbicides.

Bastides said he would not quit the mayor's race because of his abduction, but noted: "I still have some fear."

Toro's municipalities federation has asked for the elections to be suspended in several cities because of the pressure on candidates, but the government has refused.

It has promised that voting will proceed in every town _ with massive security. The vote election will be marked by "order and peace," President Andres Pastrana of the Conservative Party said on TV recently.

Polling will also occur in an area under control of the biggest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. In an effort to start talks with the rebels, the government two years ago pulled its troops from a five-township zone the FARC now openly controls. About 90,000 people live in the Switzerland-sized area.

The FARC says it will not openly support any candidates, but Giraldo, the political scientist, believes it will be working behind the scenes in towns around the country.

"They believe that if they have control over the municipalities, they'll have more influence with the central government and more power at the negotiating table," he said.

(AP)