Colombia hopes peasant soldiers can help win back countryside.

Byline: Tod Robberson

PACHO, Colombia _ To others in this central Colombian town, Juan Jose Ortiz was nothing short of a dedicated party animal, a self-described Mr. Disco who spent his nights on the dance floor, even as the surrounding countryside teemed with guerrillas and paramilitary fighters.

"I wasn't a big drinker, but if you wanted to find me after dark, the disco was the place to look," Ortiz said. The 21-year-old Pacho native seemed the most unlikely of candidates to take up the defense of the town's 10,000 residents under an experimental new program that allows soldiers to serve in their hometowns.

Today the program, known as Soldados Campesinos, or "peasant soldiers," has expanded to include 16,500 troops in training or already on duty in 140 rural locales across the country _ most of which, like Pacho, have never before had a permanent army presence.

President Alvaro Uribe's government is touting Soldados Campesinos as a key element in its plan to revamp the nation's armed forces and fill long-standing gaps that have allowed insurgent groups to roam the countryside, virtually unchecked, for decades.

Last week, Uribe, standing in a school soccer field in Guasca, urged the peasant soldiers to fight hard for their country. He denounced both the rebels and paramilitaries as outlaws who must be dealt with severely.

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