PASTRANA: For 40 years we’ve been fighting a devastating war. That’s why we propose to achieve peace by getting to the negotiating table. There are 30,000 guerrillas against 14 million Colombians.

Exactly. I think the earnings of the guerrillas because of drugs could be about $1 million to $2 million a day.

No. The guerrillas are financed by drugs, but we don’t have any evidence that they’re involved directly in drugs. They take care of the plantations and provide security for the drug lords to export their product in exchange for arms.

We struck them hard in the last year and a half.

I think both.

No. Colombia is 1.3 million square kilometers. The demilitarized zone is the size of Switzerland, but it’s only [a fraction] of our territory, and not more than 100,000 people live there.

We agreed with the FARC to give them 48 hours’ notice before going in.

We are satisfied with the plan, but it is an antinarcotics plan, not military aid.

I don’t think the States is willing to get into an insurgent war. Some people in the [U.S.] Senate asked me, “Do you guarantee that the aid that we are giving to you is not going to be used in the fight with the guerrillas?” I said, “The guerrillas have said they are not involved in drugs, so they should be confident that the arms are not going to be used against them. If they are involved in drugs, we’re going to use [force] against them.”

We are fighting the guerrillas with our own resources, with our own Army. If you fight narcotics, you fight guerrillas. If you hit the financial system of the guerrilla, then you’re going to be fighting the guerrilla.

When I became president, the economy was in recession. Now we are starting to see [signs] that the economy is recovering.

For the first time, you have a mixture between insecurity and recession. So many people are leaving to get new jobs. You were a journalist. What made you enter politics?

My family has been involved in politics for many, many years. And I decided one day that I wanted to serve my country. I went into politics in 1982. I was first elected to the city council of Bogota. Then in 1988, I became the first elected mayor of Bogota. I was elected to the Senate in 1991, and then in ‘94 I ran [unsuccessfully] for president–and again in ‘98 [and won]. When I ran for mayor in 1988, I was kidnapped by a group called the Extraditados. It was one of the first political kidnappings. One of the kidnappers put an Uzi machine gun to my head. They said they were guerrillas, but they were drug lords… I was held for a week.

A big problem, because they are so violent.

I promoted it. I said to the FARC, “You tell me you want to eradicate drugs. If so, tell the U.S. directly.” And they said, “We need money to invest in alternative development.”

If people like me are not involved in this war, the bad guys are going to win.