An olive branch of sorts

摘要

He is a self-confessed murderer, a fugitive and the figurehead of the country's vicious paramilitary groups. Yet Carlos Castano has offered an olive branch to his country: an indefinite unilateral ceasefire by his factions, which began on December 1st. Not so long ago Mr Castano was promising that his United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), which have grown rapidly over the past decade and number around 8,000-10,000, would never lay down their arms until Colombia's left-wing guerrilla armies, the ELN and the FARC, did the same. The paramilitaries fight both these groups, often with low-level co-operation from Colombia's legitimate armed forces. Now the AUC says it wants immediate dialogue, crop-substitution programmes to curb cocaine produc-, tion, and even such sugary gestures as a handover to UNICEF of child combatants.