Colombia's farmers join up - Government is trying to bolster its own stretched forces
Almost 1,500 Colombian farmers have returned to their villages after a three-month military training programme.
The state is trying to enlist male members of isolated villages to help fight leftist guerrillas, and to protect their homes and families from the fierce territorial fighting between the rebels and government and paramilitary forces.
Meanwhile, the war of words intensified as President Alvaro Uribe promised to pursue guerrillas across national borders.
The threat followed a Thursday morning blast at a shopping centre near the Venezuelan border blamed on a smaller rebel group.
'A wonderful mission'
Soldier-farmers returning to villages in the south of Colombia on Wednesday said they had volunteered for combat training to provide their villages with security.
"I have to make things safe, so peasants can return to their fields," one told national television.
Fear of getting caught up in the conflict has prompted hundreds of thousands of Colombians to flee their homes in recent years.
We are all replaceable. Except Uribe (above)
Unnamed finance ministry official
The soldier-farmers receive the same pay as regular army recruits - 50,000 pesos ($17) a month - and must serve for a minimum of two years. This is the second phase of the programme; the first attracted 5,000 volunteers, reported the newspaper El Espectador.
"The peasant soldiers have a wonderful mission, protecting their friends, families, neighbours and associates, because they will be doing their military service in their own towns, where everybody knows, respects and values them," said the head of recruitment General Gilberto Rocha.
But by recruiting civilians, the Colombian Government may risk drawing them into the firing line.
Cross-border crackdown
President Uribe continued with the crackdown on Wednesday as he announced government forces would not baulk at crossing national borders to track down the "terrorists", as it terms them.
The explosion on Wednesday occurred at Cucuta, a village close to the Venezuelan border, apparently in retaliation for a government campaign to eradicate coca crops, which it says finance the rebel movement.
"We know that terrorists have fooled the people and the government of Venezuela, where they pass themselves off as good citizens," said Mr Uribe.
"They hide out on the other side of the border and come to carry out their terrorist attacks in Cucuta."
And he vowed the government would "eradicate until the last coca plant is gone".
Venezuelan denial
Inside Venezuela, the issue has sparked a row between supporters and opponents of President Hugo Chavez, with opponents suggesting Caracas is sympathetic to the main rebel group.
According to recent reports in Venezuelan, Colombian and US newspapers, Farc leader Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda left Colombia in February and has been hiding out in south-western Venezuela.
Uribe escaped an attempt on his life while on the campaign trail
But Calixta Ortega, a lawmaker with Chavez's Fifth Republic Movement, protested that guerrillas did not maintain a "routine presence" in Venezuela, where 20,000 troops have been deployed to secure the border, "costing the government a fortune".
"If they know in Colombia that guerrillas are present [here], I don't understand why the Colombian Government or army doesn't go to those places," he said, speaking to news agency Efe.
Uribe tracked by satellite
The threat faced by Mr Uribe as he wages the bitter campaign to corner the rebels has been highlighted by the disclosure that the US Government tracks his movements by satellite.
He has survived several assassination attempts, including a car bomb and a mortar attack on the presidential palace during his swearing-in ceremony.
Reuters news agency spoke to a top intelligence official, who said "The US is working very closely with Colombia on the security and protection of [the president]. We are using all types of equipment," including satellite tracking.
A finance ministry official, confirming the security arrangements, said: "We are all replaceable. Except Uribe."