Shine is off FARC rebel army

For Villarrica, that's quite a change from the dark days of October 2007, when the FARC gunned down a mayoral candidate and left many of the town's 5,000 residents too afraid to venture out of their houses after dark. The FARC had been in de facto control of the town and its environs since 1999, when rebels briefly took over, dynamiting several buildings.

To get here from the closest big city, Melgar in the Magdalena River valley, visitors must travel three hours over winding roads that cut through sparsely populated mountain terrain that provided rebels with ideal cover. Some residents expressed disbelief that a Times reporter made the trip in 2007 shortly after the mayoral candidate was killed and when FARC control was still uncontested.

The area was such a fertile ground for extortion that FARC units from outside the zone used to frequent the region to blackmail local oil services firms that worked in various fields.

"How much has it improved? One hundred percent," said Mayor Hernando Trujillo. "Now, we can leave town to work our farms, take drives. We have been waiting for this for a long time."

'People are happier'

At a packed Christmas Eve service at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medallion, several residents expressed appreciation for the army.

"Lately we have had God's blessing in all its meaning," said Roman Catholic priest Jose Peralta. "People are happier and less suspicious of one another. Businesses are reopening and there is more prosperity. Let's hope the changes last a long time."

Added patrols and checkpoints also created supply problems for the rebels, who depended on sympathetic farmers or rebel family members to bring food and clothing to drop points in the zone.

At the same time, the army stepped up its campaign to urge rebels to lay down their arms and join the demobilization program, promising cash for intelligence. The message was written on thousands of leaflets thrown from helicopters over the rugged mountains ringing this town, and read out regularly over the 6th Army Brigade's radio station in Ibague. The army says it even knows the decimated 25th Front's remaining soldiers and unit commanders: Accumulated intelligence has enabled it to re-create an organizational chart.

Promised a reward

Ernesto was reluctant to dial the phone number given out over the radio, fearing that he could end up being killed in the process, a fear heightened by the recent scandal of "false positives," in which the Colombian army killed civilians and later claimed them as battle casualties.

But he called and agreed to meet an army patrol at a predetermined location. He later surrendered his machine gun and was promised a $500 reward. For providing intelligence that led to the capture of an extortion specialist known as Chucho, he was promised a second sum of $25,000. He said, smiling, that he was still "patiently waiting" for the government to pay up.

"The FARC treated its people well. They taught me how to read," Ernesto said. "But it was time to start a new life. I want to be an engineer."

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chris.kraul@latimes.com