Colombia Paying Combatants to Desert

BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombia's defense minister handed out money Thursday to former combatants from the nation's outlawed warring groups who have turned in their weapons.

Defense Minister Martha Lucia Ramirez gave $540 to each of the 28 former combatants. Fourteen had deserted from the ranks of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the country's biggest rebel group; 12 from the National Liberation Army, or ELN; and two from paramilitary bands.

The two rebel groups and the paramilitary factions all finance themselves by trafficking in cocaine and "taxing" cocaine production, and by extorting money from Colombians. The rebels also kidnap for ransom.

One rebel deserter urged other fighters to abandon the war, saying the fight was no longer about ideology but over control of criminal enterprises.

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