Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - Sunday, October 14, 2001
Three people who tested positive have reportedly been expelled from the zone.
The leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, says the mandatory exams are a public health initiative. But some say the rebels have an unspoken military objective: to take a disguised census that will help them keep tabs on the population.
The town's mayor and many residents oppose the testing, which began in July. They have little real authority, however, in Vista Hermosa -- one of five towns the rebels control under a peace concession from President Andr s Pastrana.
"I have no way of stopping this,'' Mayor Jos Castano said Friday, as public hospital workers performed exams in a municipal basketball arena in the town, 185 miles south of Bogota.
"Here, there is a revolutionary government and its orders must be followed,'' Castano added.
Ever since the FARC took control of the Switzerland-sized haven three years ago, it has been accused of ruling with a heavy hand.
The government insists the zone is serving its purpose as an arena for negotiations to end Colombia's 37-year civil war.
Last week, Pastrana extended its life through at least mid-January so that talks can continue.
The FARC has informally ruled remote towns like this for many years, imparting gun-barrel justice and even forcing prostitutes in some towns to be tested for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. But never have they forced examinations on this scale.
The testing began in Vista Hermosa after a rebel commander calling himself Arquimedes gave a speech in the town's tree-lined plaza in July in which he claimed that a large number of people were becoming infected with HIV.
Under the rebel orders, every resident of Vista Hermosa and its outlying villages between the ages of 12 and 80 is required to take a test, which the residents have to pay for -- about $7 a person -- more than a day's minimum wage.
About 1,500 people were tested Friday, bringing to roughly 18,000 the number of townspeople who have been examined, health officials said. Vista Hermosa has about 20,000 residents.
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