News from the Colombian Revolution [Archive]

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Spartacus.

25th April 2011, 15:35

Spartacus.

25th April 2011, 15:35

First news: Hugo Chavez, THE TRAITOR!!!

Despite the fact that captured members of the FARC are savagely tortured in Colombia's prisons, Chavez has participated in the anti-FARC campaign and has extradicted member of the FARC to Colombia. So much for the socialist solidarity... :rolleyes:

Venezuela detains alleged Colombian guerilla

A suspected Colombian guerrilla sought by his home country for alleged involvement in terrorism was detained Saturday when he flew in to Venezuela, authorities said.
A government statement said Joaquin Perez Becerra when he arrived in Caracas on an airline flight from Frankfurt, Germany. It described him as an alleged member of the international front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
Venezuela said Colombia had issued an alert through Interpol asking that Perez Becerra be detained on charges of conspiring to commit terrorist acts and engagement in financing terrorism.
According to Colombian media (http://www.caracol.com.co/nota.aspx?id=1459188), the arrestant is the director of Sweden-based website Anncol, that regularly publishes press statements from the guerrilla group.
Colombia Reports emailed Anncol director Roberto Gutierrez to verify this, but received no response.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15799-venezuela-detains-alleged-colombian-guerrilla.html

Santos thanks Chavez for arresting alleged FARC leader

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Sunday thanked his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez for the Venezuelan arrest of Joaquin Perez Becerra, accused of being a member of the FARC's international front (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15799-venezuela-detains-alleged-colombian-guerrilla.html).
According to Santos, he had personally asked Chavez to arrest the suspected guerrilla.
"I called President Chavez to help me catch this FARC guerrilla that was coming from Frankfurt to Caracas. He did not hesitate and will hand him over tomorrow to Colombia," the Colombian president said in Bogota (http://colombiareports.com/travel-in-colombia/bogota.html).
"This is another example of how our cooperation is increasing and is being effective," the Colombian head of state said.
According to Santos, Perez Becerra is known within the FARC as "alias Alejandro Martinez, the leader of the international front of the FARC in Europe."
Some Colombian media said Perez Becerra is the director of Anncol, a Sweden-based website that regularly posts press releases of the Colombian guerrilla group. Colombia Reports emailed Anncol director Roberto Gutierrez to verify this, but received no response.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15802-santos-thanks-chavez-for-arrest-alleged-farc-leader.html

Spartacus.

25th April 2011, 15:45

FARC carries out a succesfull attack against the government forces, resulting in several deaths for the fascist Santos regime. The capture of comrade Alejandro Martinez has been revenged. :)

FARC kills 2 soldiers at religious procession

Alleged guerrillas of the FARC have killed two soldiers during a Holy Week procession in the central south of Colombia, several media reported Saturday.
The incident took place on Friday in a village just outside the town of San Vicente de Caguan.
According to the reports, at least two FARC guerrillas of the rebel group's Eastern Bloc opened fire on the soldiers who were providing security during a Good Friday procession. One civilian was injured in the attack.
A regional army commander general accused the FARC of having "no scruples in taking advantage of a religious procession" in order to further their political ends.
Following the attack, the guerrillas fled the town on motorcycles.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15800-farc-kill-2-soldiers-at-religious-procession.html

The fascists are accusing FARC of having no scruples!!! How ironical! :D

IndependentCitizen

25th April 2011, 15:47

pranabjyoti

25th April 2011, 15:54

Shame on Chavez.

red cat

25th April 2011, 15:56

A place for posting news, analyses and material about the struggle of the FARC, ELN and EPL for socialism, as well as worker's, peasant's and student's fight for social justice. Also, this may serve as a general discussion place for the prospects for the Revolution and building of socialism in Colombia.

Feel free to contribute! :)

We should have started this thread long back. Thanks a lot. :thumbup1:

First news: Hugo Chavez, THE TRAITOR!!!

Despite the fact that captured members of the FARC are savagely tortured in Colombia's prisons, Chavez has participated in the anti-FARC campaign and has extradicted member of the FARC to Colombia. So much for the socialist solidarity... :rolleyes:

Venezuela detains alleged Colombian guerilla

A suspected Colombian guerrilla sought by his home country for alleged involvement in terrorism was detained Saturday when he flew in to Venezuela, authorities said.
A government statement said Joaquin Perez Becerra when he arrived in Caracas on an airline flight from Frankfurt, Germany. It described him as an alleged member of the international front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
Venezuela said Colombia had issued an alert through Interpol asking that Perez Becerra be detained on charges of conspiring to commit terrorist acts and engagement in financing terrorism.
According to Colombian media (http://www.caracol.com.co/nota.aspx?id=1459188), the arrestant is the director of Sweden-based website Anncol, that regularly publishes press statements from the guerrilla group.
Colombia Reports emailed Anncol director Roberto Gutierrez to verify this, but received no response.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15799-venezuela-detains-alleged-colombian-guerrilla.html

Santos thanks Chavez for arresting alleged FARC leader

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Sunday thanked his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez for the Venezuelan arrest of Joaquin Perez Becerra, accused of being a member of the FARC's international front (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15799-venezuela-detains-alleged-colombian-guerrilla.html).
According to Santos, he had personally asked Chavez to arrest the suspected guerrilla.
"I called President Chavez to help me catch this FARC guerrilla that was coming from Frankfurt to Caracas. He did not hesitate and will hand him over tomorrow to Colombia," the Colombian president said in Bogota (http://colombiareports.com/travel-in-colombia/bogota.html).
"This is another example of how our cooperation is increasing and is being effective," the Colombian head of state said.
According to Santos, Perez Becerra is known within the FARC as "alias Alejandro Martinez, the leader of the international front of the FARC in Europe."
Some Colombian media said Perez Becerra is the director of Anncol, a Sweden-based website that regularly posts press releases of the Colombian guerrilla group. Colombia Reports emailed Anncol director Roberto Gutierrez to verify this, but received no response.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15802-santos-thanks-chavez-for-arrest-alleged-farc-leader.html

This shows his true colours. Down with revisionism ! Long live the heroic struggle of the FARC !

Nolan

25th April 2011, 15:57

Welp. Welpie welp. I can hear the Chavez apology machine starting up.

red cat

25th April 2011, 16:00

Spartacus.

25th April 2011, 16:23

Attacking soldiers in a highly populated civilian area? Oh dear...

That type of action shouldn't be applauded, whilst I wish FARC victory, you're not going to achieve anything if civilians are getting hurt. The capitalists will use it as an excuse to crack down on them, and build up anti-socialist propaganda.

I wasn't applauding, but just transmitting news about the recent FARC action. I agree that civilian casualties are undesirable and can hurt revolutionary project, but it is important to note that according to all independent observers, up to 90% of all crimes against the civilian population are commited by the Colombian military and its para-military allies. It is clear who is the worst human rights violator in the country. That's why I said that it is ironical that notoriously brutal Colombian army has the guts to condemn the FARC. Also, according to research carried out by the Canadian sociologist James Brittain, who spent almost ten years in Colombia, the FARC enjoy massive support among Colombian population, despite certain mistakes commited during revolutionary struggle, which explains why they were able to survive a whole decade of joint US-Colombian offensive supported by billions of dollars in US aid, Black Hawk helicopters and US Special Forces. :)

As to the question of collateral victims that may die during FARC attacks, I think this quote from the killed FARC commander Raul Reyes might be helpfull:

Q:Why does the FARC continue to use home-made mortars in attacks against police stations when these weapons repeatedly cause civilian casualties?

Reyes: There are two things here. One thing is the utilization of mortars against the public forces, which is the end for which they are used. The FARC does not have heavy armaments, the FARC as you know has still not been recognized as a belligerent force and cannot obtain the armaments that it should possess as an army. So it develops a lot of homemade armaments to use against the public forces: the police, the army, DAS, navy, and air force. Many times those who operate these apparatuses, the mortars or other weapons, commit errors. They aim at the police station but they strike the neighboring house. That has occurred a few times. It’s lamentable, of course; there is not a single justification for it. But they are human failings, caused by the nervousness of whoever is launching it. Or it is a failure in the structure of the mortar. This is a failure that has occurred and we are trying to correct it so that these mistakes that affect the population won’t happen. But sometimes it is neither of these. For example, there is a battle against a police station and then the air force arrives—airplanes and helicopters—and they shoot and bomb everything including the neighboring houses, the church, all that, and then later they say that the guerrillas were responsible for the destruction.

Garry Leech, Interview with FARC Commander Raul Reyes, July 12, 2007, Colombia Journal

Spartacus.

25th April 2011, 16:40

When it comes to resources on Colombian Revolution, one of the best that is available on internet is a site of independent journalist Garry Leech, Colombia Journal. The site contains more than 300 excellent articles on war and society in Colombia, written from a person that shows a sympathetic view of FARC and ELN, devoid of standard capitalist lies about narco-terrorists and kidnappers. I highly reccomend it to anyone who wants to get a detailed and clear image about current situation in Colombia. In the last year the site has been a bit neglected by Garry, producing only a few articles, but it is still a worthy place to visit. :)

http://colombiajournal.org/

Red Future

25th April 2011, 16:42

Request that one of the Mods sticky this

Comrade J

25th April 2011, 16:43

pranabjyoti

25th April 2011, 16:58

red cat

25th April 2011, 17:01

Provocative posts on Stalin should be removed from this thread. There is a separate thread for discussing him.

mosfeld

25th April 2011, 17:13

Nolan

25th April 2011, 18:13

Black Sheep Law.

As the post count increases, the probability of mentioning Stalin approaches one.

TgTikifxVLE

Nolan

25th April 2011, 18:23

Spartacus.

25th April 2011, 19:37

Exactly as your beloved Stalin did with German Communists under the Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement, handing them over to Hitler in return for Russian and Ukrainians that were in Germany's captured section.

This is why statesmen cannot be true socialists, because realpolitik nearly always comes before ideology.

This is not a Stalin-bashing place, so if you are unable to constructively contribute on the topic that is concentrated on the Colombian Revolution, I think you are on the wrong place... :)

As to the Chavez, he is not real-politician, he is just being naive. Colombia is nothing but a puppet of the US imperialism in Latin America and in the future it will probably serve as a potential base for possible invasion of Venezuela. Colombia has in the last decade received almost 10 billion dollars in US military aid, the size of its armed forces has almost doubled and recently US has opened 7 bases on the Colombian territory that directly threaten Venezuelan sovereignity. By allying himself with Santos regime Chavez is only contributing to his own fall. Once (and if) the FARC has been eliminated, there would be no obstacle for joint US-Colombian invasion of Venezuela and removal of Chavez regime. Obama has already shown that he will support destruction of nationalist regimes in Latin America, which is especially evidenced by his support for the fascist regime in Honduras in 2009. We shouldn't forget that US-proxy invasions has already happened in Somalia, when US-puppet Ethiopia invaded Islamic Courts Union-ruled Somalia, prompted by US instigations. The same scenario could also happen in Venezuela. :)

Interesting, although a somewhat old analysis by James Petras about FARC and Chavez "real-politik". :rolleyes:

Chury: Good day Petras, how's it going...

Petras: It's a good day here in nature, but it seems to me an unhappy day in relation to the latest declarations of President Chávez.

Chury: That's the question I was just about to ask you...

Petras: Here all the bourgeois press is giving lots of favorable emphasis to the denunciations of the FARC and the demands and speeches that President Chávez is making and I imagine it's a shock for many people to face the aggressiveness with which he's pursuing this policy.

Chury: Specifically, if I ask you from here, from the south and the interpretation that can be made via the different channels of information, one would say that the outstanding question in all the papers and media that cannot be ignored, is that Chávez is asking the FARC to give up all its hostages and demobilize in exchange for nothing and that moreover they, the FARC, are the excuse for the imperialist presence in the region. I don't know if that's the reading that can actually be made...

Petras: It's pure Stalinism, to say that an insurgent group with 40 years of struggle is playing imperialism's game is pure idiocy; imperialism functions well enough in Venezuela without need for a guerrilla movement, as you know, this can be understood precisely by the role it played in the 2002 coup and all the politics from that moment, and it is functioning in many parts of the world where there is any kind of warlike government or whatever, and to say that the FARC's armed struggle is a pretext for imperialism is pure stupidity and I must say it. And another thing, Chávez doesn't explain how the FARC can hand over their prisoners when it has 500 guerrillas rotting, tortured, malnourished, sick in the dungeons of Uribe's prisons. I believe that my question is why President Chávez wants to sacrifice the lives of the guerrilla prisoners to take up the flags of Uribe, Sarkozy, etcetera; a total unilateral surrender.

My second question is whether Chávez understands that the last time the FARC guerrillas submitted to the electoral struggle, they were massacred and I want to ask if he is disposed to guarantee the lives of the guerrillas who try to enter electoral political life facing the paramilitaries and armies that continued to kill non-guerrilla union members last week. And third, I want to know if what Chávez is asking is that the guerrillas imitate Central American politics where in El Salvador and Guatemala and others peace accords were signed and armed struggle abandoned and nothing changed, the misery of El Salvador and Guatemala is just as bad as before, so bad that half the country has left for Europe, for North America, for Mexico, whatever. While the peace process satisfies the bourgeoisie, the large majority remains with all its demands and unrewarded sacrifices. What's worse, the number of dead in Guatemala and El Salvador since the peace accord surpasses the dead from the guerrilla war; in other words, each year there are eight or nine thousand homicides in these countries because the demobilized [armies] can't find work, many enter into crime and there's crossfire between the different gangs. I don't know if Chávez is concerned about the deaths as a product of the misery that arises after the peace accords, but one ought to take these facts into account.

And finally I believe that Chávez's politics are exactly, exactly the speech I heard from Felipe Perez Roque, Cuba's foreign minister, four years ago and I want to ask if this analysis and these declarations really come from Chávez's thinking or if he is repeating the Cuban line that goes back many years, more than a decade. It is against the FARC, in favor of reconciliation and seeks bourgeois allies throughout the continent, including in the last 6 years with Uribe, and it is the ideology of Fidel Castro who says the guerrilla era is over, and he said that 5 years ago. So I don't know if it's Fidel or the Cubans influencing Chávez or if he has taken his own initiative, but in either case there's a big coincidence there. And finally, eliminating the FARC is not going to eliminate imperialism; it will actually have a boomerang effect. Once Colombia consolidates its position, it's easier for North American military bases to occupy parts of Colombia, and Uribe will be more aggressive against the Venezuelan borders, therefore strategically speaking, to stop an enemy who has both hands free to pressure and attack Venezuela is a disaster. While the FARC carries any weight, Colombia must orient a portion of its troops toward that conflict, but if the FARC didn't exist it would be much easier to concentrate all forces against Venezuela. Or could it be that Chávez believes that Uribe is going to embrace him because he's going to attack the FARC, sure, he'll embrace him with a knife in his right hand. I believe that it is a disaster because it's going to strengthen the line of the liberal governments and center left in Latin America that has proven its incapacity and I believe that there's no benefit whatsoever, neither for the people nor for the Venezuelans, and it will even harm Chávez himself very quickly.

http://petras.lahaine.org/articulo.php?p=1739&more=1&c=1

Pay special attention to the last part. In reality, by helping Santos in his confrontation with the FARC, Chavez is commiting political suicide that is going to have very serious repercussions for Venezuela in the future. Not only he is a treator to socialism, but he is also playing right into the hands of imperialism and condemning Venezuela to doom...

Optiow

25th April 2011, 23:29

Is it just reactionary propaganda, or is FARC involved with drug trafficking and other such acts?

It is interesting that this group is largely forgotten in leftist groups...

Nolan

25th April 2011, 23:36

Is it just reactionary propaganda, or is FARC involved with drug trafficking and other such acts?

It is interesting that this group is largely forgotten in leftist groups...

They are. Their main relationship with the drug industry has traditionally been taxing drug lords, but they have also trafficked the product, iirc. However, drugs isn't such a black and white issue, since many Colombian small rural farmers have growing that crop as the only means of income. FARC has encouraged them to grow other things and it puts the revenue from drugs to good use in small communities.

The other thing is, money doesn't grow on trees.

Spartacus.

25th April 2011, 23:49

Is it just reactionary propaganda, or is FARC involved with drug trafficking and other such acts?

It is interesting that this group is largely forgotten in leftist groups...

It is just reactionary propaganda. :) Due to the heavy socio-economic problems experienced by Colombian peasants due to neo-liberal economic policies pursued through decades by the Colombian government, campesinos have been forced to grow coca in order to feed their families (due to the import of cheap US grain and other agricultural products, the domestic producers have been ruined because the state does not imposes any tariffs in order to protect domestic market). It is important to note that they are doing this spontaniosly, without any pressure from the FARC (the similar situation is also present in Peru, where the peasants are doing the same thing as their Colombian neighbours). Now, since the coca leaves produced by the peasants are sold to drug-traffickers which are using them in order to make cocain, FARC has, in order to increase its financial funds devised the rule by which each peasant which sells his products must pay a tax in order to finance the revolutionary struggle. That is not drug-trafficking, it's just taxing the illegal business that would go on even if FARC didn't exist. But it comes as a nice excuse for the US in order to mess in the Colomban internal affairs and help the Colombian fascist government with financial and military aid.
According to the research carried out by Canadian sociologist James Brittain in his book Revolutionary Social Change in Colombia: The origin and Direction of the FARC-EP:

Donnie Marshall, a former Administrator of the American Drug Enforcement Agency, and James Milford, a former Deputy Administrator, both said that there is no evidence that the FARC guerrillas are taking part in the drug trade through selling, producing, or smuggling. Marshall himself testified to the US House Committee that no conclusion could be made regarding the claim that the guerrillas take part in the narcotics industry. He also testified that there is no proof that FARC is laundering, smuggling, or trafficking drug money. Former US Ambassador to Colombia Myles Frechette also said that there is no clear evidence of FARC being involved in the drug trade. According to known writer Robin Kirk, both Frechette and Rosso Jose Serrano would say that the tales of FARC being highly involved with narcotics is a lie used by the military in order to get more money from the US for counter-insurgency operations.

Former US Special Forces officer Stan Goff said:

“My own personal experience as a military advisor in Colombia in 1992 leads me to conclude that the ‘war on drugs’ is simply a propaganda ploy, a legitimizing story for the American public. We were briefed by Public Affairs Officers that counter-narcotics was a cover story…”

Andres Pastrana Arango, former Colombian president and ambassador to the US, said that the state couldn’t find “any evidence that they’re [the FARC] involved directly in drugs.” It has been widely noted that FARC has worked to prevent coca from completely taking over entire rural sectors of the country. They began to work with the United Nations in the 1980’s on projects involving crop substitution, replacing coca, in areas they controlled

Klaus Nyholm, former director of the UN International Drug Control Programme in Colombia, said:

“The guerrillas are something different than the traffickers, the local fronts are quite autonomous. But in some areas, they’re not involved at all. And in others, they actively tell farmers not to grow coca”

During the 1990’s and 2000’s the FARC successfully supported the transition from coca to legitimate crops in the mayoralty of Micoahumado in the Morales municipality of the Bolivar department. The guerrillas implemented similar programs in the Casanare department of the central northeast. FARC-EP independently started a program of replacing illegal crops with normal ones in Caqueta during 2000. This program had the full support of the European Union and United Nations. After several months, the guerrillas held a conference open to the international community and Colombian peasants regarding this program

However, many farmers in FARC territory have to grow illegal crops because it is hard for them to make a living from normal crops and subsistence farming due to the land centralization programs that were carried out by the Colombian state and the neo-liberal foreign trade policies for food that Colombia and the US take part in. Understanding the economic hardships faced by farm workers, FARC allows them to grow coca, but a class-based tax system is used for those involved with coca. FARC has similar tax systems in place for other things such as coffee and oil. Landless and subsistence peasant farmers aren’t taxed, but drug merchants and multi-national corporations (MNC’s) are. The tax money is then forwarded to a local democratic body and used for local schools, health services, and other infrastructure

pranabjyoti

26th April 2011, 06:01

Two news information:
1) THE VENEZUELAN WORKERS ISN'T SUPPORTING THIS ACT OF CHAVEZ.
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/6151

Controversy in Venezuela over Arrest of Alternative Journalist

By TAMARA PEARSON - VENEZUELANALYSIS.COM
TAGS

Colombia-Venezuela Relations
FARC
Mérida, April 25th 2011 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – At the request of the Colombian government, the Venezuelan government has arrested and says it will soon deport a supposed ex-FARC leader and alternative journalist, Joaquin Perez Becerra, despite opposition to the deportation from many groups on the Venezuelan left.

The Venezuelan government said in a statement that it detained Perez, a presumed leader of the guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) when he tried to enter the country through the Caracas international airport on Saturday, and will deport him to Colombia today, following a request by the Colombian government.

According to Venezuelan government press, a commission of the Colombian National Police will travel to Caracas to assist with the deportation process.

Perez is wanted by the Colombian legal system, and the Venezuelan and Colombian governments say there is a red alert for him with Interpol, for supposedly financing terrorism and administering resources related to terrorist activities. He is said to be part of the international commission of the FARC and coordinator of the news agency, Anncol (in English: http://anncol.eu/english/23). The site, the New Colombia News Agency, is an alternative news site based in Sweden, and was founded in 1996 by Latin American and European journalists, with its stated aim of “being a voice for the voiceless sectors of Colombia”. It is said to politically support the FARC.

Colombian President Juan Santos thanked the governments of Venezuela and Ecuador yesterday in a press conference, saying, “This collaboration with our neighbours is very important... It’s further demonstration that this cooperation is increasing, it’s effective.”

He also explained that on Saturday he talked with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez by telephone to request the arrest of Perez, as Perez had taken a flight from Germany that was headed to Venezuela.

He included Ecuador in his thanks because the country’s government had helped to capture a supposed head of a criminal gang last week.

According to Santos, Perez was responsible, for many years “for all this bad propaganda that the FARC has put out about Colombia from Europe”.

The Venezuelan government’s press release stated the details of the arrest and that “The Bolivarian government ratifies its unshakeable commitment in the struggle against terrorism, crime, and organised crime, in strict compliance with ...international cooperation, under the principles of peace, solidarity, and respect of human rights.”

Venezuelan left objections

Many groups in the organised Venezuelan left, all of which support the Bolivarian revolution, have criticised the government’s handling of the situation, and have called for Perez’s freedom.

According to Venezuelan movement site, Aporrea, Perez has political asylum in Sweden. The Coordinadora Simon Bolivar (CSB), a pro-government organisation that is based in the well-organised Caracas barrio 23 de Enero and aims for grassroots organisation, called on the government to “comply with its international agreements, which include respecting political refugee status”. The CSB called for Perez to be freed “immediately” and to not be extradited.

The Venezuelan-based alternative website Patria Grande questioned if there was an Interpol red alert, given that Perez was not detained in Sweden, where he was living, or in Germany, where he changed flights.

Further, an editor of pro-government newspaper Ciudad Caracas, Ernesto Villegas, wrote that Perez survived during the mass murder of leaders of the Patriotic Union (UP), which was the legal political party for a range of social actors, including the FARC and the Colombian Communist Party, and for this, he was able to get political asylum in Sweden.

Some 5,000 members of the UP have been killed since 1984, including Perez’s first wife. Perez was a leader of the group during the 1990s.

Villegas questioned if Perez was a “terrorist” and expressed his concern that “tomorrow or the day after this label could be applied to anyone”. He also pointed out how the international press have automatically labelled Perez a “terrorist” but other confessed terrorists, such as Luis Posada Carriles, the mastermind behind the bombing of a Cuban plane, are labelled as “anti-Castro” rather than terrorist.

Villegas called on the Venezuelan president to “not fall into Santos’ trap”.

The Venezuelan Communist Party’s newspaper, Tribuna Popular, reported that a delegation consisting of some of its own members, United Socialist Party of Venezuela leader Amilca Figuerora, leaders of the Bolivarian Continental Movement, and a representative of the International Solidarity Committee visited the office of the Venezuelan intelligence agency, SEBIN, to try to talk to Perez. They were unable to.

Also, according to Tribuna Popular, Perez came to Venezuela to learn about the Bolivarian revolution and to combat the misinformation about it that is common in the mainstream press.

Left-wing Swedish journalist Dick Emanuelsson also criticised the capture of Perez in an article published by Kaos en la Red. Emanuelsson wrote about Perez’s “intense political activity in Europe in favour of peace and the struggle of the Colombian people”.

Kaos en la Red also said that the Swedish consul in Caracas and Swedish ambassador Lena Nordstrom in Bogota, had carried out procedures to try to prevent the extradition of Perez.

Finally, the pro-Chavez union federation UNETE wrote in a statement that it too rejected “the arbitrary detention by Venezuelan government authorities, against the revolutionary journalist of Colombian origin and Swedish nationality, Joaquin Perez Becerra”. UNETE also opposed Perez’s extradition and demanded his freedom.

“We make a fraternal but energetic call to President Chavez to correct the situation, so that our Bolivarian process can continue being, without any doubt, the hope of the peoples of the world”.

“Those who fight against the pro-Yankee and criminal oligarchy of Colombia aren’t our enemies but rather brothers of the Bolivarian, freedom, and anti-imperialist struggle,” the UNETE statement concluded.

The stakes: part of changing Venezuela-Colombia relations

Recently, Santos also promised to extradite Venezuelan wanted drug trafficker Walid Makled to Venezuela, even though Colombia’s close ally, the United States, had requested Makled be extradited there.

And last month the Venezuelan government deported two supposed guerrillas of Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN), Carlos Tirado and Carlos Perez, who were captured in Apure state along the border with Colombia.

Santos and Chavez met earlier this month in Colombia, and among the range of bilateral agreements discussed and made, they agreed to better coordinate confronting drug smuggling groups that operate along the borders of both countries, and to exchange intelligence information.

Following Santos’ swearing-in in August last year, Chavez met with him for the first time and the two countries agreed to restore diplomatic relations. Venezuela ended relations with Colombia under President Alvaro Uribe after Uribe accused Chavez of protecting illegal Colombian guerrillas at a meeting of the Organisation of American States (OAS) a month before.

PUBLISHED ON APR 25TH 2011 AT 6.19PM

2) Venezuelan people is happy with their nation's progress.
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/6149

Venezuela Comes Sixth in Gallup “Wellbeing” Survey

By RACHAEL BOOTHROYD - VENEZUELANALYSIS.COM
TAGS

Wellbeing
Coro, April 24th 2011 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – The results of the Gallup Organisation’s most recent poll on wellbeing placed Venezuela in sixth place out of 124 countries. The poll, which was published on Thursday, is the result of a series of telephone and face-to-face surveys conducted between February and December 2010.

Using the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale, whereby respondents are asked to rate their current and future lives based on a scale of 1-10—with 10 being the best life possible—the poll found that 64% of Venezuelans considered themselves to be ‘thriving’, i.e., those who rated their current lives at 7 or above and those who rated their future lives at 8 or above.

In relation to the poll’s findings, president Chávez commented, “This means we are on the right path, even with all the errors that we have to put right. Nonetheless, this is the right path, the path of socialism, the redistribution of income.”

Beaten only by Denmark (79%), Canada (69%), Sweden (69%) and Australia (66%) and scoring the same levels of “thriving” as Finland (64%), Venezuela occupied the highest position of those countries considered to be in the “developing world” and came first out of all the Latin American nations. In keeping with Gallup’s results from 2009, the Americas had the highest rate of “thriving”, with a median of 39%. The study highlighted that out of the populations in 124 countries, only 19 (all in Europe and America) classified themselves as being prosperous, with the list of countries where ‘the majority saw themselves as thriving’ including predominantly richer and more developed countries. Despite this, some countries with larger economies, such as the United States (59%) and the UK (54%), conversely ranked lower in the poll and came in at 12th and 17th respectively. Furthermore, levels fell even further in countries such as Italy (37%), India (17%) and China (12%), with figures significantly below the 50% margin, suggesting that higher levels of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and national income do not necessarily correlate to how citizens view their overall levels of wellbeing.

A lengthier study, conducted from 2005-2009, showed that Venezuela’s ‘thriving’ level was 50% - demonstrating a rise of 14% between the two polls and an improvement in how citizen’s viewed their wellbeing. The previous study also contained a table of ‘daily wellbeing averages’, which measured satisfaction on a daily basis through questions such as; “Have you learnt anything new/laughed at all today?’ or ‘Do you feel stressed/well rested/as though you are treated with respect?’. Venezuela scored particularly highly on daily wellbeing averages, attaining an overall rating of 8/10.

In the same way that social researchers have argued to include indicators such as gender equality and access to health and education services within the definition of what constitutes ‘development’, Gallup suggests that behavioural economic data is just as important as other economic indicators such as national income. Julie Ray, the author of the Gallup report, wrote, “Gallup's global wellbeing data underscore the diversity of development challenges worldwide. As the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt showed earlier this year, leaders should not rely on GDP alone as an indicator of how well their countries and their citizens are doing.”

PUBLISHED ON APR 25TH 2011 AT 9.16AM

Obs

26th April 2011, 11:48

Two news information:
1) THE VENEZUELAN WORKERS ISN'T SUPPORTING THIS ACT OF CHAVEZ.
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/6151 (http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/6151)
This is probably the most important thing to note in this story. To hell with what Chávez, one man, thinks or does - what's important is the sentiment present within the Venezuelan working class, which thankfully seems more radical than that of their current president. Either the PSUV will learn from this, and stop trying to play nice with the Colombians (and subsequently start arming the fuck out of themselves) and start being less hostile towards FARC, or the Venezuelans will look for a new group to lead them. Either works, really.

Nolan

26th April 2011, 20:11

but it is important to note that according to all independent observers, up to 90% of all crimes against the civilian population are commited by the Colombian military and its para-military allies.

I'm skeptical, so source?

Spartacus.

27th April 2011, 19:36

I'm skeptical, so source?

It's a chart from the book of the James Brittain, which documents FARC's human rights abuses, but considering the fact it is paperback, I'm having problems to put it here. But here is something from Noam Chomsky that deals with FARC:

In Colombia, however, the military armed and trained by the United States has not crushed domestic resistance, though it continues to produce its regular annual toll of atrocities. Each year, some 300,000 new refugees are driven from their homes, with a death toll of about 3,000 and many horrible massacres. The great majority of atrocities are attributed to the paramilitary forces that are closely linked to the military, as documented in detail once again in February 2000 by Human Rights Watch, and in April 2000 by a UN study which reported that the Colombian security forces that are to be greatly strengthened by the Colombia Plan maintain an intimate relationship with death-squads, organize paramilitary forces, and either participate in their massacres directly or, by failing to take action, have "undoubtedly enabled the paramilitary groups to achieve their exterminating objectives." The Colombian Commission of Jurists reported in September 1999 that the rate of killings had increased by almost 20 percent over the preceding year, and that the proportion attributable to the paramilitaries had risen from 46 percent in 1995 to almost 80 percent in 1998, continuing through 1999. The Colombian government's Human Rights Ombudsman's Office (Defensoria del Pueblo) reported a 68 percent increase in massacres in the first half of 1999 as compared to the same period of 1998, reaching more than one a day, overwhelmingly attributed to paramilitaries .

So, in 1998, paramilitaries (extended hand of the army) commited 80% of all crimes. Without army's crimes. :)

I forgot to put a link to the article. Here is it:

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/South_America/ColombiaPlan_Chomsky.html

Spartacus.

27th April 2011, 21:46

FARC continues to deal heavy blows to the Colombian fascist regime. New attacks and new victories for the people's army. :)

2 policeman die in the Choco FARC attack

Alleged members of the FARC attacked a police station in the western Choco town of Andagoya, killing two policemen and gravely injuring one, Caracol Radio reported Wednesday.

The armed guerrillas apparently entered the town and opened fire on the police station in an attack that, along with the listed casualties, left an unspecified number injured.

The badly wounded policeman has been transferred to Quibdo, capital of the Choco department, due to the gravity of his injuries.

Armed forces and police are currently pursuing the guerrillas, who escaped to the jungle region.

On Tuesday, a separate alleged FARC attack in the Cauca department, southwest Colombia, left three policemen dead and three civilians wounded. This latest attack brings the total number of "FARC" police casualties to five over the last two days.

Spartacus.

27th April 2011, 21:51

3 die in the FARC attack on the south-western Colombian town

Alleged guerrillas of the FARC Tuesday attacked a town in the southwest of Colombia, killing at least three policemen and injuring three civilians.

According to several media reports, attacks began Tuesday evening in the town of Jambalo, Cauca where explosives were set off near the local police station and armed guerrillas entered the town fighting the local police force.

Three policemen were killed in the attack that, according to regional police commander Orlando Pineda Gomez, involved a car bomb.

"The situation is very complicated, very hard, and the worst is that we are without electricity as two power stations were damaged by the explosions that also damaged many houses I am told," the mayor of Jambalo told Caracol Radio.

According to the radio station, the population of the town was forced to leave their homes and seek refuge in a nearby shelter specially created for guerrilla attacks.

Newspaper El Espectador reported Wednesday morning that the air force is offering support to ground troops to push the guerrillas away from the town.

Jambalo is one of a number of towns in the north of the Cauca department that frequently suffer guerrilla attacks. The department is the country's most affected by fighting between guerrillas, drug gangs and security forces.

On Monday, Colombia's defense minister decided to form a second High Mountain Battalion for the Cauca department aimed to reduce the strength of the FARC in the region and prevent attacks on towns like Jambalo.

There are three important things to note in relation to this news that offer insight into situation of the revolutionary forces in the Colombia:

1. The attack happened inside the town, which means that FARC guerillas are again able to attack urban centers like they did in the past (the famous conquest of Mitu), though still in a limited form.

2. The army needed support from the air in order to push back guerilla offensive, which shows their inability to do that with their regular ground forces and their reliance on airpower and especially US-supplied helicopters to defeat the people's army.

3. The Colombian state, despite the doubling of their armed forces under Plan Colombia and Patriot Plan, is still unable to gain decisive advantage over FARC and it needs more troops for their reactionary war, which will put further strain on the already terrible economic situation of the Colombian people, leading to mass dissatisfaction with the regime and possible popular uprisings in the main cities of the country.

RedSonRising

28th April 2011, 00:25

gorillafuck

28th April 2011, 00:32

Coggeh

28th April 2011, 02:42

Am i the only one who opened this thread while screaming in my head "Please don't be a tankie ranting about FARC !" and it actually being a real columbian revolution of the working class or what have ya. Guess it was just a tankie ranting about FARC "FARC HAVE KILLED TWO MORE SOLDIERS WHO WERE WALKING DOWN THE STREET" VIVA LA REVOLUCION. What a way to bring workers over eh

Nolan

28th April 2011, 03:10

Spartacus.

28th April 2011, 18:26

I've never seen, within the last 30 years, even an inkling of support for the FARC in the main cities I've been in. Not even among the communist, anarchist, and anti-government graffitti in Bogota and Cali have I seen any sort of FARC symbolism. I don't think the FARC's military forces engage in the spread of literature, ideas, or services beyond what control they have in more remote areas. If economic strains ruin the country, I think urban citizens are more likely to blame the FARC's insurgency for costs of conflict, though their dissatisfaction with the government could foster enough discontent to elect a Bolivarian party or create more activism and protest within cities independent of the FARC or ELN. The alternative Green party, while not a huge step forward, was significantly supported by the youth against Santos and shows that the support for leaders willing to bend to US Hegemony isn't prevalent among those willing to vote.

I don't know were have you been and what have you seen, but according to the research carried out by James Brittain, a Canadian sociologist who has spent 10 years in Colombia studying FARC, MBNC (Bolivarian Movement for a New Colombia), a political group founded by FARC, is present in every Colombian town and according to him, has millions of members. Could you give any source for your claim about lack of support for the FARC in the urban areas of Colombia? :)

Spartacus.

28th April 2011, 18:27

Hats off to Chavez for at least keeping drug traffickers and people who carry out attacks in civilian heavy areas out of Venezuela and not risking further tension with Colombia in a time of difficulty.

FARC is not a drug trafficker, as I have proved in my post 21, citing research by James Brittain, a scholar who has spent ten years studying FARC and Colombian conflict. But I suppose that you are greater expert than him!!! :lol:

As to the Chavez, he is not important, considering that the Venezuelan people support the FARC and its struggle. They have even built a statue to Manuel Marulanda, a leader of narco-terrorists that you hate so much. :lol:

Go troll somewhere else! :tt2:

Am i the only one who opened this thread while screaming in my head "Please don't be a tankie ranting about FARC !" and it actually being a real columbian revolution of the working class or what have ya. Guess it was just a tankie ranting about FARC "FARC HAVE KILLED TWO MORE SOLDIERS WHO WERE WALKING DOWN THE STREET" VIVA LA REVOLUCION. What a way to bring workers over eh

Fuck the FARC, it is not them that will bring the Revolution and socialism to Colombia, it would be the Trotskytes, the most successful revolutionary movement in history! Oh wait, but I forgot that there are only 5 Trots in whole Colombia and that Trots never made a single successful Revolution anywhere! :lol: :rolleyes:

Yet another troll... :thumbdown:

Spartacus.

28th April 2011, 18:32

Colombian army is becoming less efficient, despite almost 10 billions dollars of US aid and thousands of Green Berets that have been training her for the last decade. :)

Colombia's armed forces notoriously less effective

The effectiveness of Colombia's armed forces has "notoriously" dropped, the recently replaced head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the armed forces (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15775-head-of-the-joint-chiefs-of-staff-replaced.html) told media Wednesday.
"As a soldier I accept having been part of the cause of this notorious drop in effectiveness the armed forces have seen in the past month," retired General Gustavo Matamoros said at a press conference.
Matamoros was replaced last Thursday amid speculation that rifts within the armed forces (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15775-head-of-the-joint-chiefs-of-staff-replaced.html), particularly between himself and Admiral Edgar Cely, had eventually led to him being pushed out.
However Matamoros said that his early retirement comes amid internal investigations into irregularities within the armed forces, without wanting to tell reporters what irregularities he was referring to.
Instead, the former military official publicly called on Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera to make these irregularities public.
Matamoros' retirement follows months of heavy criticism of Rivera who has been accused by political followers of former President Alvaro Uribe of neglecting the security situation in the country as groups that emerged from demobilized paramilitary organization and the defunct Norte del Valle drugs cartel are wreaking havoc in the north and west of Colombia and the FARC seemingly has increased its attacks on public forces and towns in the south west of the country.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15873-2-policemen-die-in-choco-farc-attack.html

RedSonRising

28th April 2011, 20:11

I don't know were have you been and what have you seen, but according to the research carried out by James Brittain, a Canadian sociologist who has spent 10 years in Colombia studying FARC, MBNC (Bolivarian Movement for a New Colombia), a political group founded by FARC, is present in every Colombian town and according to him, has millions of members. Could you give any source for your claim about lack of support for the FARC in the urban areas of Colombia? :)

There may be at least one group connected to the FARC organization in every locale, but that doesn't mean they have high popularity or numerous enough a base to have the masses of the Colombian urban working class go to their side. They simply don't organize significantly enough in the cities to promote their group or their ideas; they're restricted to rural areas. If the economy gets worse, the working class in Colombia is simply not oriented in a way to lift up arms alongside the FARC. As a University student studying in the US, I am not the most experienced in organizing with Colombian activists and cannot give you a source other than my own experiences, but those activists I have talked to are not fans of the FARC. The urban socialists I know in Colombia often like Chavez, but don't like the FARC and don't see their conduct of insurgency as particularly useful.

My family knows several white-collar workers who were kidnapped and were forced into labor and released or never came back. People often claim it is the paramilitaries who like to commit atrocities in the name of the FARC- which certainly does happen- but people are acquainted enough with the territorial zones to know who is close by. The way I see it, the FARC simply don't have the organizational basis to ever gain victory through influence in the cities.

The Colombian state and their paramilitary lackeys are the most responsible for the human rights abuses in Colombia by far, but at best the FARC seem ineffective in mobilizing the majority of the working class towards meaningful construction of a revolution, rather than simply an insurgency.

Nolan

29th April 2011, 00:30

People often claim it is the paramilitaries who like to commit atrocities in the name of the FARC- which certainly does happen-

Out of curiosity, do you have some source? I'm not doubting it, I'd just like to be able to prove that it does happen, and get an idea of how often.

RedSonRising

29th April 2011, 01:38

Out of curiosity, do you have some source? I'm not doubting it, I'd just like to be able to prove that it does happen, and get an idea of how often.

I'll have to dig but I'll certainly find an exemplary reported case.

The Vegan Marxist

29th April 2011, 02:14

I'll have to find the article, but James Britain written an article where he went into accounts of when paramilitary forces would execute peasants through chainsaws, and then would leave other peasants as "survivors" in order to give everyone a message that "they were FARC, and that it was them who's behind the killings."

The Vegan Marxist

29th April 2011, 02:19

Here's an article by James Brittain where he talks about the chainsaw incidents, though still searching for the one going into paramilitaries pretending to be FARC. I believe it can be found in his book:

http://www.counterpunch.org/brittain03122005.html

BIG BROTHER

29th April 2011, 06:33

...Canadian sociologist James Brittain, who spent almost ten years in Colombia, the FARC enjoy massive support among Colombian population, despite certain mistakes commited during revolutionary struggle, which explains why they were able to survive a whole decade of joint US-Colombian offensive supported by billions of dollars in US aid, Black Hawk helicopters and US Special Forces.l

Don't you think massive support its a bit of an exageration? I mean when people massively support something they have stuff like strikes, boycotts and take forms of direct action which combined with an armed force would mean that the revolution in Colombia should have succeded a long time ago...food for thought my friends.

BIG BROTHER

29th April 2011, 06:35

Fuck the FARC, it is not them that will bring the Revolution and socialism to Colombia, it would be the Trotskytes, the most successful revolutionary movement in history! Oh wait, but I forgot that there are only 5 Trots in whole Colombia and that Trots never made a single successful Revolution anywhere! :lol: :rolleyes:

Yet another troll... :thumbdown:

Its not the Trotskyist or any other tendency per see that brings the Revolution...Its the working class.

And we never lead a successful Revolution? Are you familiar with a little something called the Russian Revolution? I guess not.

RedSonRising

29th April 2011, 06:35

"Massive" is a huge overstatement.

red cat

29th April 2011, 07:19

thÃ¤lmann

29th April 2011, 11:38

of course do the farc have support in the cities. i guess the problem why they are not on the way taking countrywide power, is their strategy...

RedSunRising

29th April 2011, 11:59

RedSonRising

29th April 2011, 22:40

My understanding of FARC is essentially that they are a defensive organization of the rural proletariat and poor peasants. Columbian society is generally highly violent so LOL at the Trots who criticize them for armed struggle over legal channels that their base has no real access to.

RedSun, Colombian society is not entirely engulfed in violence in such a way that alternative methods of activism are impossible. Reformism is obviously not the answer, but revolutions must be comprehensive and employ multi-faceted strategies in politicizing the working class and attacking the bourgeois state in more ways than one. The FARC has limited their revolutionary action to rural insurgency and lack a real political voice to the rest of the country.

El Chuncho

29th April 2011, 22:42

RedSonRising and RedSunRising debating with eachother? It just looks weird. :blink:

RedSonRising

29th April 2011, 23:12

RedSonRising and RedSunRising debating with eachother? It just looks weird. :blink:

Yea well, I'm the OG Red Son Rising.

http://www.tradereadingorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Superman-Red-Son-Superman-Is-Here.jpg

Spartacus.

30th April 2011, 19:04

There may be at least one group connected to the FARC organization in every locale, but that doesn't mean they have high popularity or numerous enough a base to have the masses of the Colombian urban working class go to their side. They simply don't organize significantly enough in the cities to promote their group or their ideas; they're restricted to rural areas. If the economy gets worse, the working class in Colombia is simply not oriented in a way to lift up arms alongside the FARC. As a University student studying in the US, I am not the most experienced in organizing with Colombian activists and cannot give you a source other than my own experiences, but those activists I have talked to are not fans of the FARC. The urban socialists I know in Colombia often like Chavez, but don't like the FARC and don't see their conduct of insurgency as particularly useful.

My family knows several white-collar workers who were kidnapped and were forced into labor and released or never came back. People often claim it is the paramilitaries who like to commit atrocities in the name of the FARC- which certainly does happen- but people are acquainted enough with the territorial zones to know who is close by. The way I see it, the FARC simply don't have the organizational basis to ever gain victory through influence in the cities.

The Colombian state and their paramilitary lackeys are the most responsible for the human rights abuses in Colombia by far, but at best the FARC seem ineffective in mobilizing the majority of the working class towards meaningful construction of a revolution, rather than simply an insurgency.

Thanks for your input on Colombian Revolution. Although I don't agree with some of your points, I appreciate the information and opinion you have provided on them. Since I suppose you are a Colombian, may I ask a few more questions? If FARC is unorganised/unpopular in the cities, could you tell me what is the situation of the ELN and public opinion on them? Also, the M19 movement in the past was very popular in the towns, so I'm interested what happened with their symphatisers, did they lost their revolutionary zeal or have they joined some other movement?

As with your claim of majority of Colombian urban socialists supporting Chavez and having a dislike of FARC, I find it a little strange, considering the fact that FARC ideology is Marxist-Leninist and Bolivarian. Also, I don't understand their dislike for FARC armed struggle in the countryside, taking into account that as Colombians they should know that FARC was founded as armed self-defence group of the peasants against state-imposed terror and us such they in no way impede class struggle. Quite the contrary...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-HlnmlWJaQ

Interesting video showing FARC Bolivarian cells doing agitation work. Of course, this is only one from thousands of them, but it still shows that they have some urban support. :)

Spartacus.

30th April 2011, 19:05

Don't you think massive support its a bit of an exageration? I mean when people massively support something they have stuff like strikes, boycotts and take forms of direct action which combined with an armed force would mean that the revolution in Colombia should have succeded a long time ago...food for thought my friends.

You want to strike, protest, my boy??? :)

Go on, have fun... :thumbup1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQF04hzP1bo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOGAjWC3j50&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Tzz-LRSWu4&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuVBiH70pw0&playnext=1&list=PLE5A65F4E3652D032

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS6zqMPS34k&feature=related

I suppose that you will be the one that would lead the strike, considering the fact that Colombia is a country with the largest number of union leaders killed on the world. :D

As to the failure of the Revolution, the following numbers are certainly proof of your claim. In the moment of its founding, 1964, the FARC had 48 fighters. Some three decades later, at the time of its peace negotiations with the government, it had an estimated strength of some 18 000! So, in a matter of few decades, their numbers had multiplied some 360 times! That certainly tells a lot about alleged lack of support for the FARC...

And we never lead a successful Revolution? Are you familiar with a little something called the Russian Revolution? I guess not.

I don' recall that Trotskytes ever led the Russian Revolution. Last time I checked the Revolution was carried out by Leninists. Perhaps you are going to proclaim even Marx, Engels and Lenin to be Trots... :)

RedSonRising

30th April 2011, 22:14

Thanks for your input on Colombian Revolution. Although I don't agree with some of your points, I appreciate the information and opinion you have provided on them. Since I suppose you are a Colombian, may I ask a few more questions? If FARC is unorganised/unpopular in the cities, could you tell me what is the situation of the ELN and public opinion on them? Also, the M19 movement in the past was very popular in the towns, so I'm interested what happened with their symphatisers, did they lost their revolutionary zeal or have they joined some other movement?

As with your claim of majority of Colombian urban socialists supporting Chavez and having a dislike of FARC, I find it a little strange, considering the fact that FARC ideology is Marxist-Leninist and Bolivarian. Also, I don't understand their dislike for FARC armed struggle in the countryside, taking into account that as Colombians they should know that FARC was founded as armed self-defence group of the peasants against state-imposed terror and us such they in no way impede class struggle. Quite the contrary...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-HlnmlWJaQ

Interesting video showing FARC Bolivarian cells doing agitation work. Of course, this is only one from thousands of them, but it still shows that they have some urban support. :)

Thanks for being civil in disagreement. All too often, people think I'm trying to bash the FARC simply to force others to adopt what they think are my biased pre-conceived notions. I simply try to adapt my experiences in the country as a Colombian to the literature put forth. James Brittainy's book seems like a good history from what I've seen, but it is not infallible to leaving out arguments in defense of an agenda, or simply not being able to capture a wide and messy spectrum of experiences with the group.

I didn't say they had NO urban support- just little enough that the average working class Colombian does not have a connection to the ideology. Also, even though the party was founded by the FARC, the term "Bolivarian" can also contain connection to 1. the Hugo Chavez project of uniting Latin America, as was the vision of the liberator Simon Bolivar, and 2. A vague term that traces to Bolivar suggesting a democratic Colombia independent of imperialist influence. Obviously there can be expected to be a bulk of FARC supporters in these groups, but members do not necessarily have connections to or direct support for the insurgency group.

I took pictures of a protest against the FARC nearby where I was staying in Cali some years ago. Many articles charactarized the participants as upper-middle class, but the amount of people in relation to the population of Cali suggests this was hardly a show of oligarchical reactionary politics, necessarily. Many of the shirts read "no more kidnappings." I believe the class orientation was mixed, and they simply believed the insurgency's kidnappings and relation to the drug exportation was hurting the country without offering a concrete platform for social change. The subjects focused on at the protest also involved an end to corrupt officials and narco-trafficking. It's also worth pointing out that these protests didn't seem to take on any anti-communist, anti-labor, pro-capitalist, or pro-government character.

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v298/153/103/519987473/n519987473_1102576_762.jpg
http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-ash1/v298/153/103/519987473/n519987473_1102598_9112.jpg
http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v298/153/103/519987473/n519987473_1102595_7732.jpg

Colombians don't all consider the FARC a "self-defense" group for peasants. In parts of the countryside I've been to in El Valle, small-time ranchers and villagers mention how the FARC used to have a presence in that mountainous region and were driven out. I was young at the time of this particular conversation, but the tone did not suggest that the FARC's presence was missed, nor that it was integrated with the local population. The origins of the group are obvious to many, but the opinion that it has transformed into a self-serving group focusing more on survival and territorial gain than social change seems to prevail among the cities.

pranabjyoti

1st May 2011, 01:04

Thanks for being civil in disagreement. All too often, people think I'm trying to bash the FARC simply to force others to adopt what they think are my biased pre-conceived notions. I simply try to adapt my experiences in the country as a Colombian to the literature put forth. James Brittainy's book seems like a good history from what I've seen, but it is not infallible to leaving out arguments in defense of an agenda, or simply not being able to capture a wide and messy spectrum of experiences with the group.

I didn't say they had NO urban support- just little enough that the average working class Colombian does not have a connection to the ideology. Also, even though the party was founded by the FARC, the term "Bolivarian" can also contain connection to 1. the Hugo Chavez project of uniting Latin America, as was the vision of the liberator Simon Bolivar, and 2. A vague term that traces to Bolivar suggesting a democratic Colombia independent of imperialist influence. Obviously there can be expected to be a bulk of FARC supporters in these groups, but members do not necessarily have connections to or direct support for the insurgency group.

I took pictures of a protest against the FARC nearby where I was staying in Cali some years ago. Many articles charactarized the participants as upper-middle class, but the amount of people in relation to the population of Cali suggests this was hardly a show of oligarchical reactionary politics, necessarily. Many of the shirts read "no more kidnappings." I believe the class orientation was mixed, and they simply believed the insurgency's kidnappings and relation to the drug exportation was hurting the country without offering a concrete platform for social change. The subjects focused on at the protest also involved an end to corrupt officials and narco-trafficking. It's also worth pointing out that these protests didn't seem to take on any anti-communist, anti-labor, pro-capitalist, or pro-government character.

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v298/153/103/519987473/n519987473_1102576_762.jpg
http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-ash1/v298/153/103/519987473/n519987473_1102598_9112.jpg
http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v298/153/103/519987473/n519987473_1102595_7732.jpg

Colombians don't all consider the FARC a "self-defense" group for peasants. In parts of the countryside I've been to in El Valle, small-time ranchers and villagers mention how the FARC used to have a presence in that mountainous region and were driven out. I was young at the time of this particular conversation, but the tone did not suggest that the FARC's presence was missed, nor that it was integrated with the local population. The origins of the group are obvious to many, but the opinion that it has transformed into a self-serving group focusing more on survival and territorial gain than social change seems to prevail among the cities.
Why are the "protesters" in your picture waiving the Venezuelan Flag. And not all peasants are casted out of the same dice. They may be poor, but some of them certainly can contain reactionary mentality.

RedSunRising

1st May 2011, 01:13

Why are the "protesters" in your picture waiving the Venezuelan Flag. And not all peasants are casted out of the same dice. They may be poor, but some of them certainly can contain reactionary mentality.

I think we have all seen "Peace rallies" before, and groups pretending to take neither the side of the state or the insurgents as if there can really be a middle ground but calling for "peace".

RedSonRising

1st May 2011, 01:51

Why are the "protesters" in your picture waiving the Venezuelan Flag. And not all peasants are casted out of the same dice. They may be poor, but some of them certainly can contain reactionary mentality.

Comrade, you must have completely missed the fact that the Colombian flag is very similar to the Venezuelan flag. The tricolor in the Colombian flag is half gold with red and blue making up the remaining quarters, and the Venezuelan flag has three equal colored parts with stars on them.

http://www.crossed-flag-pins.com/Friendship-Pins/Colombia/Flag-Pins-Colombia-Venezuela.jpg

pranabjyoti

1st May 2011, 04:14

Comrade, you must have completely missed the fact that the Colombian flag is very similar to the Venezuelan flag. The tricolor in the Colombian flag is half gold with red and blue making up the remaining quarters, and the Venezuelan flag has three equal colored parts with stars on them.

http://www.crossed-flag-pins.com/Friendship-Pins/Colombia/Flag-Pins-Colombia-Venezuela.jpg
Well, my mistake. I must admit that. But, the problem is everyone with some little knowledge of reality of Colombia can understand the real nature of the Colombian state and waving it's flag means actually you are supporting the state. In India (probably in many other countries), a huge amount of "common people" can be seen on rallies organized by ruling parties and it's a fact that not all are "paid". But, the problem is does that mean "mass support" behind them? They are ruling class and have the power of capital behind them and normally they have much higher capacity to organize such rallies.
Such rallies don't prove of "spontaneous mass support" behind the action of ruling class. It's just a show of their power, nothing in connection with mass.

RedSonRising

1st May 2011, 10:14

Well, my mistake. I must admit that. But, the problem is everyone with some little knowledge of reality of Colombia can understand the real nature of the Colombian state and waving it's flag means actually you are supporting the state. In India (probably in many other countries), a huge amount of "common people" can be seen on rallies organized by ruling parties and it's a fact that not all are "paid". But, the problem is does that mean "mass support" behind them? They are ruling class and have the power of capital behind them and normally they have much higher capacity to organize such rallies.
Such rallies don't prove of "spontaneous mass support" behind the action of ruling class. It's just a show of their power, nothing in connection with mass.

I'm not suggesting that these anti-FARC protests show a 'mass' support for the state by any means, there is a good amount of dissent in Colombia against the atrocities of the State, but my point was that if in urban centers such as Cali and Bogota there can be such large showings of anti-FARC protesters with such little visible support for the group, then its hard to imagine they have any real impact on the working classes of these cities. While we may analyze things in terms of class struggle, citizens within society do not all outwardly project this outlook, and can reject one segment of society without consciously embracing its counterpart.

The flags are there because the protests were done on the National Day of Independence. As I said, reactionary politics were not espoused by organizers or participants, at least in Cali.

Spartacus.

1st May 2011, 12:09

I took pictures of a protest against the FARC nearby where I was staying in Cali some years ago. Many articles charactarized the participants as upper-middle class, but the amount of people in relation to the population of Cali suggests this was hardly a show of oligarchical reactionary politics, necessarily.

How many people participated? It seems to me that protests didn't number more than 50-100 000 people, which is still huge, but considering that Cali has population of some 2,5 million, that wouldn't include more than 2-4% of total residents of city. If we presume that upper 20% of population are extremely hostile to FARC, that would mean that some 10-20% members of that class took part in the protests. With good mobilization, that is not a big problem. Also, aside from this little calculations, what is your opinion on march that took place in the early 2008, which was, according to many analyses, composed of workers forced by their bosses to participate and which was in part led by paramilitary chiefs? Is it possible that this was, in part, a forced mobilization? IIRC, when ELN was supposed to get its own zone, just like the FARC did, a decade ago, local paramilitaries forced the peasants from surrounding municipalities to stage false "protests" and block roads. The ELN never got its zone. :)

Colombians don't all consider the FARC a "self-defense" group for peasants. In parts of the countryside I've been to in El Valle, small-time ranchers and villagers mention how the FARC used to have a presence in that mountainous region and were driven out. I was young at the time of this particular conversation, but the tone did not suggest that the FARC's presence was missed, nor that it was integrated with the local population. The origins of the group are obvious to many, but the opinion that it has transformed into a self-serving group focusing more on survival and territorial gain than social change seems to prevail among the cities.

I agree that in some regions to which FARC expanded during the 90s, the ties with the local population were weak, which meant that after a military offensive the area was easily taken over by them and paramilitaries. This is confirmed by the following article of Garry Leech:

There is no question that the FARC has been hurt by a more aggressive Colombian military, which has benefited from more than $7 billion in U.S. aid and training over the past decade. The guerrilla group’s influence in regions where it expanded its presence during the 1980s and 1990s has been either completely eliminated or has been diminished significantly in recent years. The FARC’s focus on a military presence in most of these regions often led to local populations viewing the guerrillas as outsiders. The rebel group’s failure to establish close ties to local populations allowed the newly-strengthened and more aggressive Colombian military to defeat it in those regions. As a result, the visible guerrilla presence in northern and central Colombia, as well as in the far eastern departments of Guainía, Vaupés and Amazonas, has been virtually eradicated. However, it is difficult to determine to what extent the FARC still operates clandestinely in these regions.

Hovewer:

By the end of 2010, the FARC maintained a significant visible presence in only three regions of the country: the south-east (Meta, Guaviare, Caquetá and Putumayo); the south-central highlands (Huila and southern Tolima); and the south-west (Nariño, Cauca, Valle del Cauca and southern Chóco). Even in these traditional strongholds where the FARC remains organically linked with much of the peasant population, the guerrillas have been forced to retreat to the most remote areas. Despite these setbacks, the FARC'S military strength and popular support remains relatively intact in its traditional strongholds. In fact, according to a 2010 report issued by the Bogota-based NGO New Rainbow Corporation, more soldiers and police were killed in 2010 than at the height of the conflict in 2002.

Also:

Most of the communities throughout the region have lived under FARC rule for decades. The community leader in Limón explains that the FARC ensured there was no violence or crime, and also that farmers didn’t damage the environment. Under state control, there has been an increase in crime and no improvement in the economy.

Source:

http://colombiajournal.org/the-hunt-for-farc-commander-alfonso-cano.htm

It seems that Valle is still a FARC stronghold and that many peasants agree that their life was better under FARC rule. :)

but my point was that if in urban centers such as Cali and Bogota there can be such large showings of anti-FARC protesters with such little visible support for the group, then its hard to imagine they have any real impact on the working classes of these cities.

But, considering the youtube videos I posted, do you really believe that any group daring to show open support for the FARC would be left unhurt by paramilitaries and the state? When there were protests against state violence targeting civilian population a few years back, the leaders of them were quickly massacred by death squads, If i'm not wrong. :)

Spartacus.

1st May 2011, 12:10

New news :)

A new martyr that has fallen in the struggle for a New Colombia...

FARC liutenant shot down in Huila army operation

The Colombian army announced Thursday that FARC lieutenant "Tropezon" has been shot down in combat against the guerrilla organization's Teofilo Forero column in the Huila department, national media reported (http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/judicial/articulo-265829-abatido-lugarteniente-de-alias-genaro-cabecilla-de-farc).
Two other unidentified guerrillas were killed in the operation in southwest Colombia, and two arrested. The bodies of those killed are being transferred to the headquarters of the Army's 9th Brigade in order to be identified.
Tropezon was lieutenant of the FARC column's second-in-command, the recently arrested alias "Genaro," (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15774-authorities-arrest-2nd-in-command-of-huila-farc-column.html) and part of the inner circle of column commander alias "El Paisa." The lieutenant was also allegedly responsible for the murder of livestock farmer Jorge Eliecer Araujo.
Authorities have reported that Tropezon was responsible for numerous other murders, kidnappings and extortions, mainly in the southern part of the country where the Teofilo Forero column, considered the FARC's elite body, operates.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15910-farc-lieutenant-shot-down-in-huila-army-operation-army.html

Proof that FARC has significant presence in Ecuador:

FARC uniforms seized in Quito, Ecuador

Ecuadorian police in Quito detained five people Thursday and seized military uniforms, jackets and boots supposedly destined for the FARC in Colombia.
Police in Ecuador's capital found a clandestine factory in the north of Quito after stopping a truck in which they found 600 uniforms, 600 jackets and hundreds of pairs of boots, reported Caracol (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEIffZJzfAw&feature=player_embedded) Radio. The uniforms were apparently carrying FARC insignia.
"As yet, we still have not confirmed anything and we are still investigating" said the source who added that in the next few hours an official statement will be released, according to El Espectador (http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/elmundo/articulo-265858-policia-ecuatoriana-investiga-si-uniformes-incautados-iban-farc).

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15912-farc-uniforms-seized-in-quito-ecuador.html

Despite the army offensive and all US support, the FARC is still strong and is again spreading its activities in the Caribbean region. The ruling elite is clearly showing its panic. :)

Strong FARC presence in nearly 1/3 of Colombia

A report delivered in the Colombian Congress Thursday warned that over 330 municipalities throughout Colombia are enduring a significant FARC presence, while attacks continue to rise, El Espectador reported (http://elespectador.com/noticias/politica/articulo-265894-alertan-mas-de-330-municipios-tienen-fuerte-presencia-de-farc).
The House Representative for the northern department of Bolivar, William Garcia Tirado, used the latest figures provided by the Center for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law to announce that about 339 out of Colombia's 1,099 municipalities, covering 12 departments, are suffering from the actions of the FARC as well as illegal armed groups.
Although the number of affected municipalities has actually been reduced in comparison to the same period last year, Garcia used the same figures to warn of a trend that reflects the growth in murders of mayors, ex-mayors, indigenous people and trade unionists.
The concern is primarily centered around the Caribbean coast departments, vital for the transportation of narcotics, while Garcia also noted there has been an increase in the abduction of citizens and military personnel alongside landmine victims.
"The guerilla actions have beeb increasing while they have been decreasing the operational capacity of the armed forces, especially in remote districts and municipalities," he said.
The representative invoked the example of the Bolivar municipality San Juan Nepomuceno, where guerillas have been detected in the town center, to issue a "call upon the government to put its maximum interest in democratic security, which we enjoyed for eight years [under Alvaro Uribe]," La FM quoted him saying (http://www.lafm.com.co/noticias/orden-p-blico/28-04-11/alertan-en-el-congreso-que-m-s-de-300-municipios-est-n-sitiados-por-).
He concluded that in these municipalities, there is a feeling of being under siege at the hands of the guerillas, which appear to be gradually gaining ground.
This latest perspective appears to contradict recent claims made by Admiral Edgar Cely (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15726-farc-and-eln-are-dying-but-will-not-accept-it-military-chief.html), the commander of Colombia's armed forces, who stated that the guerrilla groups are "dying." While he did not ignore the increasing attacks, he instead explained them as a response to their demise.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15937-strong-farc-presence-in-nearly-13-of-colombia-congress.html

The sentences in bold are clear proof that FARC is again increasing its activities on all fronts, just like Alfonso Cano has promised in his New Year's message. :)

Spartacus.

1st May 2011, 18:03

A question for Hoxhaists on this forum. Does anyone knows is the EPL still active? I think that they still number several hundred fighters and that they have a presence in several departments in northern Colombia. Here are reports from the site of the Colombian military about latest operations against EPL:

http://www.ejercito.mil.co/?idcategoria=255494

http://www.ejercito.mil.co/?idcategoria=265873

http://www.ejercito.mil.co/?idcategoria=275402

Do you have any information on them and their latest activities? :)

RedSonRising

1st May 2011, 19:01

Spartacus.

2nd May 2011, 00:38

Spartacus, I'm not sure as to how many people overall participated in Cali, I have forgotten the statistics, but I can assure you that it was not simply "workers mobilized by their bosses." I talked to quite a few people there and the organization of the march was largely independent. There was talk of the march over Facebook and news outlets and so forth, and people would casually say 'are you going to the march?' and discuss whether they were going to participate. As I've been trying to tell you, anti-FARC opinions are what consistently prevail in conversations about the group in these cities.

Interesting. But as you should know, opinions of the people on the FARC will usually depend on their class origins. A higher or well-off middle class member will probably have a negative opinion on revolutionary struggle of any organization, no matter its human rights record. Just remember, Allende was hated by such people despite being an incarnation of Gandhi. Now, just imagine what they would think of the FARC. :D And since 2/3 of Colombians are living in poverty, I find it hard to believe that average slum inhabitant will hate (he doesn't have to love them!) guerillas that are fighting against corrupt and brutal oligarchy that is keeping the vast majority of Colombians in poverty.

It is unwise to trust bourgeois media sources on the real popularity of the group, but they had the audacity to mention something like 1 percent of support in the country. While this is extremely low and likely not accurate, I must reiterate my point that I've never met a Colombian who supports the FARC. The kidnapping of innocent civilians experienced by citizens in the 80's and 90's simply deters a majority of potential sympathizers.

Well, as to the kidnapping, the FARC need a source of financing with which they could obtain arms, ammunition and equipment. After all, not all have access to billions of dollars of US military aid. :) IIRC, the kidnappings are not done against innocent civilians with no particular reason, but according to FARC Law 002, each enterprise owner whose value is more than one million is obligated to pay a revolutionary tax which corresponds to 10% of its yearly profits. If they don't fullfill their legal obligations, the FARC retains them until they do that. Of course, there are exceptions to this and sometimes people are kidnapped for obscure reasons and I have read that in the last decade or so, FARC has shifted its ransoming from only the upper classes to certain sections of the middle classes. I don't approve that and I think it will more hurt the public perception of the revolutionary organisation than it would help it.

In relation to the boldened sentence, I find it hard to believe that in a multi-million city you could not find a single supporter of the FARC, organisation which has wide and extensive presence all over Colombia. Hell, I believe you could even find supporters of Pol Pot there, not to mention FARC! :D

As to the lack of mass support base of FARC in the cities, the following article might be of some interest:

On the ground in Arauca, U.S. troops will have to contend with more than just the military strength of the guerrillas if they are to help the Colombian army protect the oil interests of George W. Bush and his financial backers. According to Saravena Mayor Jorge Sierra, the rebels also have substantial local support in Arauca. The mayor’s sentiments were echoed by Saravena’s police commander, Major Joaquin Enrique Aldana, who begrudgingly admitted, "The people here love the guerillas. They care for them. They lend them their houses so they can shoot at us.”

http://colombiajournal.org/washingtons-new-rules-of-engagement.htm

Quite unusual for a group that has no mass presence in the towns. :)

Basically, since the FARC has been restricted to rural areas, it seems to me they are serving the State more than they are the working class by giving it an ideological and practical excuse to consolidate its power, similar to how the United States uses Islamic fundamentalist terrorism to favorably contextualize a series of human rights abuses. I do not see it as a vehicle for social change.

You really believe that situation would be better if FARC didn't exist? Last time the FARC made a peace with government and tried to effect a social change through constitutional means, 5000 members of Patriotic Union were massacred. If you don't agree with their strategy of rural-base armed resistance to state-imposed terror, could you propose an alternative method of improving situation in Colombia?

RedSonRising

2nd May 2011, 03:34

Interesting. But as you should know, opinions of the people on the FARC will usually depend on their class origins. A higher or well-off middle class member will probably have a negative opinion on revolutionary struggle of any organization, no matter its human rights record. Just remember, Allende was hated by such people despite being an incarnation of Gandhi. Now, just imagine what they would think of the FARC. :D And since 2/3 of Colombians are living in poverty, I find it hard to believe that average slum inhabitant will hate (he doesn't have to love them!) guerillas that are fighting against corrupt and brutal oligarchy that is keeping the vast majority of Colombians in poverty.

Well, as to the kidnapping, the FARC need a source of financing with which they could obtain arms, ammunition and equipment. After all, not all have access to billions of dollars of US military aid. :) IIRC, the kidnappings are not done against innocent civilians with no particular reason, but according to FARC Law 002, each enterprise owner whose value is more than one million is obligated to pay a revolutionary tax which corresponds to 10% of its yearly profits. If they don't fullfill their legal obligations, the FARC retains them until they do that. Of course, there are exceptions to this and sometimes people are kidnapped for obscure reasons and I have read that in the last decade or so, FARC has shifted its ransoming from only the upper classes to certain sections of the middle classes. I don't approve that and I think it will more hurt the public perception of the revolutionary organisation than it would help it.

In relation to the boldened sentence, I find it hard to believe that in a multi-million city you could not find a single supporter of the FARC, organisation which has wide and extensive presence all over Colombia. Hell, I believe you could even find supporters of Pol Pot there, not to mention FARC! :D

As to the lack of mass support base of FARC in the cities, the following article might be of some interest:

http://colombiajournal.org/washingtons-new-rules-of-engagement.htm

Quite unusual for a group that has no mass presence in the towns. :)

You really believe that situation would be better if FARC didn't exist? Last time the FARC made a peace with government and tried to effect a social change through constitutional means, 5000 members of Patriotic Union were massacred. If you don't agree with their strategy of rural-base armed resistance to state-imposed terror, could you propose an alternative method of improving situation in Colombia?

It's not that there are NO FARC members in the cities, it's just that when I meet someone I don't go "so what's your opinion on the FARC?" every single time. However every time I do that, the result is negative. My perspective is limited, but individualized accounts can tell stories that literature often cannot.

Allende may have been hated by some, but he was ELECTED into government leadership by a majority and was only removed by a military coup supported by the United States. He didn't kidnap civilians, support/tolerate a damaging drug exportation business, or alienate urban masses by attacking civilian populated areas.

That "shift" that you are talking about which I underlined is essential to the way that opinions form by the different sectors of Colombian cities.

Picture this; envision that you're a working class member of Colombian society. The State is not on your side, and you are virtually unprotected by unions. AS FAR AS YOU KNOW, the FARC are a militant insurgency that have close ties with drug cartels in exporting cocaine to finance their own arms, and you hear that they've attacked a civilian populated area and killed 2 policeman while injuring a civilian or two in their last assault. You have no sense of how their ML ideology or business relates to your own economic troubles, other than the fact that the more violent they get, the harder the state cracks down. "Class Struggle" isn't something you're familiar with, and there's nobody from the FARC that's coming to your workplace or your church or your neighborhood to tell you about Marxism or the path to a new Colombia. On top of all of this, you know it can get you in serious trouble to ever interact with someone connected to the FARC-but why would you want to? As far as you can see, they're a drain on the economy firing guns in the jungle and kidnapping politicians, lawyers, and doctors.

While there may be many misconceptions and a lack of proper political analysis in the above hypothetical, the average Colombian citizen comes with these misconceptions in their social context; their daily lives, exposure to the bourgeois media, and contact with people who have suffered at the hands of countryside violence lead most of them to figure that the FARC has nothing to do with their interests as workers.

The guerrillas in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Cuba were much more separated from the encouragement of cocaine growth in their respective regions, and coordinated heavily with comrades in the city. Numerous general strikes were held in late 50's Cuba despite the bloody repression of the State. Look at the Nepalese Maoists today- worse off economically than Colombia on a few levels, but praised for their working-class politicization and networking. I'm not a Maoist, but they are engaging in militant struggle with a more proper integration of the national working class. The Sendero Luminoso have unfortunately gone down a similar path to the FARC. After so many years of violence and alienation, I don't think these groups have a chance at meaningful success the way they are conducting their offenses.

As for the question of whether things would be better without them, I'd say it would have been much better had they adopted different tactics. As a revolutionary leftist I am no fan of the Colombian ruling class which oppresses its working people, but the situation that has been created by the insurgency is not one that can advance political interests- only create a territorial stalemate which leaves many people dead or injured. Many children in the countryside are victims of landmines used by Paramilitaries and the FARC. Many innocent white-collar workers are abducted and some give birth in captivity without proper care. My parents had to leave the country as students because FARC agitators kept using explosives and gas in public schools in order to challenge the state and encourage people to participate in violence against the State. My father had to finish his University schooling in the US because of it. My quarrel is not with the existence of "a" FARC, but the recent and current methods used by the FARC today.

My point is, the FARC could have either conducted a political program which included, rather than alienated, the urban and suburban members of the populations in order to perform a successful overthrow and revolution, or remained democratic rural organs developing alternative uses of land and community organization without constantly provoking the State into more internationally 'legitimized' reactionary violence. The State and the Paramilitaries are mostly responsible for the atrocities in Colombia, but the FARC's methods are not conducive to long-term social change and aren't the answer for the working class in my opinion.

Spartacus.

2nd May 2011, 12:15

Spartacus.

2nd May 2011, 23:03

RedSonRising

3rd May 2011, 06:33

Sorry for your parents, and their misfortunes with FARC. I understand why are you negatively disposed towards them and I want any more press with my support for them. But, I would like to point out that your outlook is probably not representative of the view held by 2/3 of Colombian population. Sorry for my arrogance for telling you, a Colombian, what is the popular opinion about them, but I believe your class outlook is making you subjective, despite proclaiming yourself a socialist. From what I understood about your position, you are studying in US and your father has left Colombia for US to study there. All this tells me that you are probably a member of well-off middle class family which is not really representative of average Colombians and as such you would probably not move in circles that are normally supportive of FARC, that is poor peasants living in the countyside, displaced and homeless persons, inhabitants of urban slums and super-exploited workers. As such, the persons you would probably meet would be representatives of your particular class, with a reactionary outlook and thinking. Of course, I could be utterly wrong in my guesses, so I would like to apologise if I said something that is totally wrong. I hope you haven't taken this discussion personally, because I had no intention of insulting your opinion or experiences with FARC, but was just curious about additional first-hand information about Revolution I have been closelly following for quite a long time. Just one last question. Have you ever had a discussion about FARC with people living in these slums? Because, I believe they make up the backbone of FARC support base. :)

http://www.uploadgeek.com/thumb-1249_4DBE86D6.jpg (http://www.uploadgeek.com/share-1249_4DBE86D6.html)

http://www.uploadgeek.com/thumb-761C_4DBE88EF.jpg (http://www.uploadgeek.com/share-761C_4DBE88EF.html)

http://www.uploadgeek.com/thumb-4E8F_4DBE8920.jpg (http://www.uploadgeek.com/share-4E8F_4DBE8920.html)

http://www.uploadgeek.com/thumb-E220_4DBE894C.jpg (http://www.uploadgeek.com/share-E220_4DBE894C.html)

I don't take any offense. I am always wary of my family's class perspectives (My mom's side was well-off Middle-class, while my dad's family was feeling the pressure on the downside of the shrinking middle class which now barely exists in Colombia. He went to public university.) I went to Cuba with my aunt from my mom's side and all she did was ***** while I was trying to get an honest look at the place :laugh:

I've had conversations with just a few people that live in the slums. Workers of different kinds, farm-workers as well as urban proletariat who go to work in my family's neighborhoods. Around where my uncle lives, there is actually a phenomenon occurring where these social groups create these sort of 'social cleansing' groups, which commit themselves to eradicating all forms of unwanted crime and behavior in certain neighborhoods of Cali. Where the state fails, these networks kick in. A lot of homosexual murders have taken place, and the policy is basically no drugs, no thievery, no gang-banging or we'll kill you. It's often reactionary but it seems like the best thing to do from the standpoint of these organizers. I don't think they have the connection to the FARC to ever rely on them for any type of change. There is also the question of discplacement. I wonder how many people support the FARC and how safe it is for them if there are thousands and thousands of refugees fleeing city violence. There is a good article on it in the Colombia journal you visited. I think that with so little chance at economic advancement, the FARC's army means for many a more than one meal a day and little money that they wouldn't have otherwise.

One more story I'd like to interest you in is the occurrence of rejecting monetary aid to peasants living inside their territory. A couple close to our family tried to set up a type of small-scale relief effort for some inhabitants in FARC territory who were impoverished. Before they could really get anything started, they were visited by a member of the FARC and intimidated, and told them they could not make efforts to help the citizens in their territory. Obviously it wasn't because they're "evil" and wanted their inhabitants to suffer, but whatever the reason, it seems that their focus on maintaining a closed circuit and regulating their territories often stifles certain opportunities for development. Obviously there isn't a massive neighborhood charity the FARC are blocking, but without attempting to reach out and network with others for means to a better life, it seems hurtful to do such things.

I am always looking for different perspectives on the organization and haven't taking anything you said personally, thanks a lot for the civil discussion. I just try and offer my perspective and hope to help people understand certain dynamics of the FARC missing from literature that come from my limited but valuable encounters with the subject. I think that whether or not they deserve one's individual support can shift from different angles, but I think that if what I've said adds anything, it's that these may be reasons why it hasn't necessarily been successful in a State overthrow.

The next time I visit Colombia, probably next December, I will be sure to try and capture a bigger picture with what I can within my own individual capabilities. It is always risky or suspicious (to both security or the people themselves) to persistently ask about such things, but I can gather a good amount of varied discussion.

Also, I heard recently the FARC blew up an oil pipeline in Colombia. Not sure what the reasoning is behind this.

Spartacus.

7th May 2011, 23:22

I don't take any offense. I am always wary of my family's class perspectives (My mom's side was well-off Middle-class, while my dad's family was feeling the pressure on the downside of the shrinking middle class which now barely exists in Colombia. He went to public university.) I went to Cuba with my aunt from my mom's side and all she did was ***** while I was trying to get an honest look at the place

So I have guessed your class background! :cool: Now you try to guess mine. :D

One more story I'd like to interest you in is the occurrence of rejecting monetary aid to peasants living inside their territory. A couple close to our family tried to set up a type of small-scale relief effort for some inhabitants in FARC territory who were impoverished. Before they could really get anything started, they were visited by a member of the FARC and intimidated, and told them they could not make efforts to help the citizens in their territory. Obviously it wasn't because they're "evil" and wanted their inhabitants to suffer, but whatever the reason, it seems that their focus on maintaining a closed circuit and regulating their territories often stifles certain opportunities for development. Obviously there isn't a massive neighborhood charity the FARC are blocking, but without attempting to reach out and network with others for means to a better life, it seems hurtful to do such things.

That is quite unfortunate event, but we can't allow ourselves to judge by just one incident. From what I know, the FARC maintains its own system of schools and hospitals in the area which it controls, that are available to the local population. It has also, according to their material ability, contributed to the improving of the civilian infrastructure and general welfare of the population. More on this from Garry Leech:

Meanwhile, what has been frequently ignored in the reporting on Mono Jojoy is the fact that the bloc he commanded has implemented some of the FARC’s most progressive social and economic policies, which have benefited peasants in eastern Colombia. Over the past 20 years, many small towns in remote regions under Mono Jojoy’s control experienced significant infrastructure improvements as a result of the FARC’s public works programs. The FARC has built hundreds of miles of roads that connected dozens of communities to each other. In 2003, according to a Washington Post report, Efrain Salazar, the FARC’s public works director in Meta, had an annual budget of $1 million and paid civilians who worked for him a monthly salary of $125.
And during the 1990s, Mono Jojoy used some of the FARC’s tax revenues to construct electrical grids in dozens of remote towns and villages long neglected by the national government. The guerrilla commander also oversaw agrarian reform projects such as the breaking up of ten large ranches in the southern part of Meta in 2002 and 2003 with the smaller properties then distributed to subsistence farmers.

http://colombiajournal.org/the-significance-of-the-killing-of-farc-leader-mono-jojoy.htm

The next time I visit Colombia, probably next December, I will be sure to try and capture a bigger picture with what I can within my own individual capabilities. It is always risky or suspicious (to both security or the people themselves) to persistently ask about such things, but I can gather a good amount of varied discussion.

Thanks for your effort. But watch out for youself. Colombia can be a dangerous place,from what I have heard. :)

Also, I heard recently FARC blew up an oil pipeline in Colombia. Not sure what the reasoning is behind this.

Look at those slums and you will see the logic behind their actions. The Colombia and Venezuela are two of the biggest oil-producers in Latin America, yet despite of this 2/3 of Colombian population remains in poverty, while the benefits are only reserved for tiny minority of domestic oligarchy and American corporations. By attacking these pipelines, the FARC is sabotaging exploatation of domestic resources and is hurting the interests of MNC and US empire.

Spartacus.

8th May 2011, 02:08

FARC continues with sucessful attacks on Colombian army. :)

Two policeman killed during FARC ambush

Two Colombian policemen have been killed during an ambush by alleged members of the FARC (http://www.insightcrime.org/criminal-groups/colombia/farc) in a rural area of the southwestern Cauca department, reported El Espectador. (http://elespectador.com/noticias/judicial/articulo-267501-mueren-dos-policias-emboscada-de-farc-el-cauca)
Reports say the incident occurred on the road between the towns of Bolivar and Santa Rosa, in the south of Cauca.
The policemen have been identified as Felipe Rios and Jefersson Salazar Higuita, who both hail from the city of Manizales.
Authorities said that after the policemen were killed they were stripped of their money and weapons.
The bodies were evacuated during a military operation set up in the area to find the whereabouts of the alleged killers.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16054-two-police-killed-during-farc-ambush.html

Despite the common perception of it being only a rural movement, FARC continues its infiltration in all sectors of the society. This time, a comrade responsible for intensifying student's protests has been captured by the regime.

FARC riot inciter captured in Bogota

The suspected FARC (http://www.insightcrime.org/criminal-groups/colombia/farc) leader accused of inciting violence during last month's student protests in the capital is captured by National Police, reported El Espectador (http://elespectador.com/noticias/judicial/articulo-267487-capturan-universitario-presunto-jefe-de-milicias-de-farc).
Johan Andres Niño Calderon, alias "Rene," the alleged head of militias for the Antonio Nariño front of the FARC, was caught by police authorities in Bogota (http://colombiareports.com/travel-in-colombia/bogota.html) Thursday.
The 31-year-old public administration student, in his 10th semester, is suspected of promoting disruptions during the April 7 and May 1 student protests (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15616-riot-police-sent-to-national-university-in-bogota.html) that were held in Bogota and cities around the country.
According to reports, Rene entered the FARC during June 2007 in La Paz, Cundinamarca, and initially performed intelligence work. He later converted into a key figure for the infiltration of student protests.
The captured guerrilla is said to be the son of FARC member Reinaldo Niño Fontecha, who was captured in Argentina in 2005 as is currently serving a 10 year sentence.
Director of the National Police, General Oscar Naranjo said, "[He] makes part of the inner circle of Carlos Antonio Lozada (member of the Secretariat), of the triad that they have called the process of terrorist infiltration in the universities."
The capture follows the military's announcement Wednesday (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16032-military-to-rethink-guerrilla-fighting-strategy.html) that they will adjust combat strategies against the guerrilla, focusing particularly on debilitating the capability of rebel groups to hide within civilian populations.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16055-farc-riot-inciter-captured-in-bogota.html

Spartacus.

9th May 2011, 01:19

The Colombian regime is trying to cover up its defeats with silly claims about the FARC leaders being ill. How nice from them that they are worrying about health condition of FARC leaders! :lol:

FARC leaders in poor health

Intercepted FARC (http://www.insightcrime.org/criminal-groups/colombia/farc) emails have revealed that various leaders are in poor health, suffering from conditions such as Parkinson's disease and spinal problems, said Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Saturday.
According to new emails pulled from FARC computers, the guerrilla group is worried about the poor state of health of several of its leaders including '"Alberto Espuelas" who is suffering from chronic Parkinson's Disease. Furthermore "Pablo Catatumbo" (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/2010-elections/9438-farc-new-president-will-not-solve-problems.html) has various fractures as a result of an accident sustained while walking through the jungle, and Henry Castellanos Garzon alias "Romaño" has serious spinal problems which makes it difficult for him to walk.
El Espectador reported (http://elespectador.com/noticias/judicial/articulo-268084-varios-miembros-del-secretariado-de-farc-estan-enfermos-dice-san) that the emails indicate that several other FARC leaders are also in poor health. Both "Bertulfo Alvarez" and Marcelino Trujillo Bustos alias "Martin Villa," have heart problems, although Bustos was reported to have died of a heart attack in 2009 (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/6344-farc-founder-dies-el-tiempo.html).
In addition "Victor Tirado" has an umbilical hernia, "Fernando Marquetalia" suffers from arthritis, and "Jesus Santrich" has neurological problems and severe visual impairment. Alias "Hermes" who was reportedly killed last month (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15394-army-kills-farc-commander.html) has prostate and circulatory problems and Genner Garcia Molina alias "John 40" is recovering from injuries sustained in a recent bombing. President Santos did not reveal when the emails were dated.
The head of state called on members of the FARC to demobilize saying that demobilization offers the opportunity of leading a normal, productive life.
Santos added "We must continue to pursue and pressure them. But this is a demonstration of how they are coming to an end."

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16093-farc-leaders-are-in-poor-health-san.html

Now, among all this ranting of a mad-man Santos, there is one interesting information for those who are closelly following Colombian revolution. It was reported in September 2010 that Romana, one of the best FARC military commanders, has been killed together with Mono Jojoy in Operation Sodoma. But...

and Henry Castellanos Garzon alias "Romaño" has serious spinal problems which makes it difficult for him to walk.

It seems that not for the first time, the Colombian army has claimed death of FARC commanders that are still alive...

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/14745-3-killed-farc-commanders-alive-el-tiempo.html

Spartacus.

15th May 2011, 19:39

More evidence on the lies of the Colombian government and their manipulations of the files found on the computer of killed FARC commander Raul Reyes...

The release Tuesday of a "dossier" of Farc files (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/10/world/americas/10venezuela.html), which were supposedly seized by the Colombian government in 2008, is truly a non-event. The report, by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) (http://www.iiss.org/), appears to be an attempt by hawks in the US and the UK to perpetuate, using "black propaganda", the failed policies of the George W Bush administration, as well as previous administrations of the cold war era, to which they respectively once belonged. All of its conclusions are based on the false premise that the documents that it claims to analyse are entirely trustworthy.
Impartial observers of the events surrounding the supposed capture of computer files from the Farc (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/farc), and their subsequent revelation in the media, have long ago concluded that the files are highly dubious at best. The Colombian military, which claims to have obtained the documents from computers and flash drives following an illegal bombing raid on a Farc camp inside Ecuador in March 2008, is the only party that can know for sure whether the documents are authentic.
The IISS, and others who want the world to believe in the documents' authenticity, rest much of their case on the supposed verification of the files by Interpol. But what Interpol actually said, in its 2008 report on the documents, was that the Colombian military's treatment of the files "did not conform to internationally recognised principles for the ordinary handling of electronic evidence by law enforcement" (http://www.interpol.int/public/icpo/pressreleases/pr2008/pr200817.asp). Interpol noted that there was a one-week period between the computer documents' capture by Colombia, and when they were handed over to Interpol, during which time the Colombian authorities actually modified 9,440 files, and deleted 2,905, according to Interpol's detailed forensic report. This "may complicate validating this evidence for purposes of its introduction in a judicial proceeding", Interpol noted at the time (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42391).
Following their remarkable initial "discovery" and "capture" (the computers, we were told, survived a bombing raid completely unscathed), the Colombian military made "revelations" that quickly turned out to be false. A photo depicting a high-level Ecuadorian official meeting with the Farc was revealed to be a fake (http://www.globovision.com/news.php?nid=81958). Even more embarrassing, the Colombian military's claims that files showed the Farc were planning to make a "dirty bomb" were publicly dismissed by the US government and terrorism experts (https://nacla.org/node/5184).
The documents' evidence of Venezuelan support for the Farc was so weak that Organisation of American States secretary general José Miguel Insulza told the US House subcommittee on western hemispheric affairs just a month later thatthere was "no evidence" of such support or collusion.
Even more damning for the Colombian military's case were statements last year by General Douglas Fraser (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iLRc4xRTwzEnD6Uz55LRaUOiT4Lg), head of the US Southern Command, in response to questions from Senator John McCain, regarding the alleged Venezuela-Farc connection, and the laptop "revelations": "We have not seen any connections specifically that I can verify that there has been a direct government-to-terrorist connection," Fraser stated, adding, "I am skeptical." (Fraser recanted his testimony the following day, following a meeting with the top state department official for Latin America, Arturo Valenzuela. But Fraser, as the US military's leader for activities in South America, is in a much better position to know.)
But perhaps most telling of all are the current close relations between the governments of Venezuela and Colombia, now that Juan Manuel Santos has taken over from Alvaro Uribe as president of Colombia. If Colombia, indeed, had evidence of Venezuelan support for the Farc, would Santos have so readily warmed to the Chávez administration, quickly boosting trade and political support? Santos, interestingly, is the man who, as Colombia's defence minister, oversaw the raid on the Farc camp.
US policy, during much of the Uribe administration (2002-2010), seemed designed to provoke tension between Colombia and Venezuela. Now, with Santos in office, and Colombia "looking ahead" and even dropping a Uribe era agreement stipulating an increased US military presence in Colombia, promoters of this policy are again hoping to stir up trouble, through the IISS.
The world is being asked to trust the word of former Bush administration intelligence officials and national security advisers – who help to oversee IISS's activities – and their counterparts in the UK, who include former advisers to Blair and Thatcher. The IISS expert chosen to present the dossier's findings this week in Washington, for example, is a former British intelligence officer (http://www.iiss.org/about-us/offices/washington/iiss-us-events/iiss-us-strategic-dossier-launch-the-farc-files-venezuela-ecuador-and-the-secret-archive-of-ral-reyes/) who conducted intelligence operations in Latin America. Other notable IISS advisory council members (http://www.iiss.org/about-us/iiss-governance-and-advisory-structure/the-council/?locale=en) include Robert D Blackwill (former deputy national security adviser to George W Bush), Eliot Cohen (formerly secretary of state Condoleezza Rice's senior adviser on strategic issues), Sir David Manning (formerly foreign policy adviser to Tony Blair) and Prince Faisal bin Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia. In other words, some of the same people who deceived the people of the United States and the United Kingdom into invading Iraq now want us to believe their "revelations" about Venezuela, Ecuador and the Farc.
The IISS is full of people who should know a thing or two about "black propaganda" – forged or altered information, the source of which is masked, in order to advance policy objectives. The use of such "black propaganda" is as old as espionage itself, and used routinely by the CIA and MI6. The former CIA officer, Philip Agee (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/obituaries/10agee.html), described several such operations in his revelatory memoir, Inside the Company: CIA Diary, published in the 1970s.
If Bush cronies are now using "black propaganda" to smear the Chávez government in an attempt to undermine it, it would not be the first time. The Bush administration supported (http://southoftheborderdoc.com/declassified/) Chávez's brief overthrow, in April 2002. The use of altered information – film footage that was manipulated (http://www.democracynow.org/2003/11/6/the_revolution_will_not_be_televised) to make it appear as though Chávez supporters had gunned down unarmed demonstrators – played a key role in that coup d'etat. Why should anyone take at face value former high-level Bush administration officials' claims about Venezuelan or Ecuadorian connections to the Farc?
Unfortunately, there are many loud voices that continue to see Latin America through a cold war prism, such as the current heads of the US House foreign affairs and western hemisphere committees, as well as various editorial writers at major US media organisations, who will be all too happy to take the IISS spooks and neocons at their word – just as they did in the runup to the invasion of Iraq.

http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/6181

Old Mole

16th May 2011, 13:31

Swedish (ex-Colombian) journalist and militant Joaquin Perez Becerra was recently captured by Venezuela and given away to the Colombian state. Perez Becerra is charged with being a commander of FARC, though the so-called "evidence" Colombia is claiming to have against him is yet to be shown. Before Perez Becerra left Colombia for Sweden he was a leader of the Patriotic Union (Uníon Patriótica), a legal party with ties to the communist party and FARC. At least 74 journalists has been killed in Colombia since 1992, lets hope Perez Becerra wont be another one.

Spartacus.

21st May 2011, 14:17

FARC deals a new blow to the Colombian regime. :)

FARC kill policeman during helicopter assault

One policeman has been killed and two civilians injured as a helicopter transporting bank money was attacked by alleged members of the FARC (http://www.insightcrime.org/criminal-groups/colombia/farc) in the southwest Colombian department of Cauca, El Pais reported Friday (http://www.elpais.com.co/elpais/judicial/farc-atracaron-helicoptero-transportador-dinero-en-cauca).
The exact amount stolen from the Banco Agraria de Colombia has not been revealed by local authorities, although the media report the figure to be significant.
Alleged members of the FARC's 30th Front stopped the helicopter before take-off and shot a policeman who died at the scene. Two civilians were also injured in the attack, which occurred in Argelia, Cauca.
It is the second attack (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/14662-6-killed-in-southwest-colombia-helicopter-attack.html) on a helicopter carrying remittance money to the same Banco Agraria within recent months. The previous one, also occurring in Cauca, killed six policemen and injured two civilians.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16418-farc-kill-policeman-during-helicopter-assault.html

Spartacus.

22nd May 2011, 15:15

5 Colombian soldiers are wounded in a new FARC attack. The government and the army try to cover up their failures and defeats with empty and false claims about civilian "casualties". Of course, we all know the reliability of official army sources and their history of murdering civilians and presenting them as killed "terrorists" or "victims" of the FARC.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/9555-auc-describe-false-positive-killings-by-colombian-army.html

FARC attack injures one child and five soldiers

One child and five soldiers were left injured by an attack on a marine infantry patrol allegedly by FARC (http://www.insightcrime.org/criminal-groups/colombia/farc) guerrillas in a village in south west Colombia Friday evening.
"The attack seems to have been committed by members of the FARC's 30th Front" injuring a child and five marine infantry soldiers who were carrying out "search and control operations" in an area of the village, said Colonel Adolfo Enrique Martinez commander of the injured soldiers.
Martinez added that "the terrorists attacked the soldiers with a grenade, giving no thought to the presence of the villagers," Colombian newspaper El Espectador reported (http://elespectador.com/noticias/judicial/articulo-271680-un-nino-y-cinco-militares-heridos-ataque-de-farc).
The incident took place in Puerto Merizalde, a village on the banks of the Naya River in the Valle del Cauca department. The casualties were taken by air to a hospital in the Pacific coastal city of Buenaventura.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16428-farc-attack-injures-1-child-5-soldiers.html

The villagers were probably lucky because the army and paramilitaries haven't exterminated half a village and claimed FARC did it... :rolleyes:

Spartacus.

27th May 2011, 18:25

FARC, I wish you a happy 47. birthday!!! It has been a long time ago since you have been founded on 27. may 1964. in Marquetalia after Colombian army of 16 000 has cowardly attacked a small guerilla band of 48 barely armed peasants. Let us hope that you will have many more birthdays and that you will continue to protect poor Colombian peasants and workers from violence and terror of the fascist Colombian state. Until the final Victory of the Revolution: Manuel Vive, La lucha Sigue! :)

http://www.aporrea.org/imagenes/gente/farc048n1mun-1.jpg

Spartacus.

4th June 2011, 02:53

First news: Hugo Chavez, THE TRAITOR!!!

And Chavez continues to betray the "revolutionary" credentials of the Bolivarian "revolution" by once again shocking entire Marxist community with his collaboration with the despicable Colombian fascist regime. This time he has surrendered Julian Conrado, the innocent people's singer, to the hands of a notoriously brutal Colombian state. :rolleyes:

Hugo Chavez, THE TRAITOR!!!

Mérida, June 2nd 2011 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – On Tuesday Venezuelan authorities detained another suspected member of the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC), promising to extradite 57-year old Guillermo Enrique Torres (aka Julián Conrado, or “The Singer”) to neighboring Colombia in the coming days. In what has become a repeated occurrence in recent months, Venezuelan and Colombian authorities are said to have worked together to capture the suspected rebel.
Torres, a leftist singer-songwriter from Colombia, was first thought to have been killed during Colombia’s 2008 raid on a FARC encampment in Ecuador. DNA evidence later proved that the victim was not Torres but an Ecuadorian civilian.
On Wednesday Venezuela’s Ministry for Justice and the Interior confirmed the detention and pending extradition of Guillermo Enrique Torres, stating that “after detaining the citizen in question [Torres], we informed the governmental authorities of Republic of Colombia, and the corresponding paperwork began so as to place him in the judicial custody of that country.”
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Wednesday told reporters that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez had guaranteed him that Torres “will be handed over to us.”
Colombian Minister of Defense Rodrigo Rivera detailed the Colombian-Venezuelan collaboration that led to Torres’ detention.
“Our intelligence agencies had been after him for years, until finally, we were able to secure a credible piece of information that proved to us that he was in Venezuela. We informed the Venezuelan authorities, who responded immediately, and yesterday morning they made the capture,” said Rivera.
Both Santos and Rivera thanked the Venezuelan government for its support in detaining Torres.
In a posting on his presidential website, Santos affirmed that “the collaboration of the Venezuelan government is going to help the (Colombian) Armed Forces be much more effective than they have been" in the fight against Colombia’s armed insurgencies.
Who is Julián Conrado?
According to terra.com.co (http://www.terra.com.co/actualidad/articulo/html/acu9377.htm), Conrado took up arms against the Colombian government as a result of unsuccessful dialogues between his movement, Unión Patriótica (Patriotic Union), and the government of Belisario Betancur Cuartas (1982-1986). In 1983, after the entire national leadership of the Patriotic Union was assassinated by Colombian military and paramilitary forces, Conrado is said to have joined the FARC insurgency. He was 29 years old at the time.
“After they began to kill the compañeros [comrades] who had accompanied me in struggles for simple social revendications,” Conrado is quoted as saying, “that’s when I decided that in Colombia it is easier to organize a guerrilla than it is to organize a community action committee.”
Conrado became a recognized cultural figure within the FARC and Colombian society back in 2000, after his performances of a politicized ‘vallenato’ – a type of popular folk music from Colombia Caribbean coast – served as introductions to dialogues between FARC founder Manuel Marulanda Vélez and then Colombian President Andrés Pastrana (1998-2002).
Born in 1957, Conrado is said to have composed over 100 songs of protest, including “From my village to the guerrilla (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTZ7Ps9NtWw),” an unofficial anthem of the FARC insurgency.
Conrado’s detention and pending extradition has resulted in some within the Venezuelan left to make comparisons with the April 2011 detention and deportation of alternative journalist Joaquín Pérez Becerra – a Colombia-born media activist of the Unión Patriótica granted political asylum in Sweden in 2000.
Both the Venezuelan Communist Party (http://www.tribuna-popular.org/index.php/partido-comunista/editorial/8482-ivenezuela-se-ha-vuelto-peligroso-para-los-luchadores-sociales-y-revolucionarios-del-mundo) and Aporrea.org (http://www.aporrea.org/ddhh/n182103.html) have questioned the political wisdom of Venezuela’s ongoing collaboration with Colombian authorities in their decades-long war with the FARC insurgency.

http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/6236

Spartacus.

4th June 2011, 03:00

As an act of revenge for the cowardly capture of Julian Conrado, FARC deals a blow to the Colombian armed forces. :)

Three policeman injured by the FARC bomb in west-central Colombia

Three policemen have been injured by an alleged FARC (http://www.insightcrime.org/criminal-groups/colombia/farc) attack on their vehicle as they were travelling in the west-central Colombian department of Tolima.
The policemen were travelling between the two Tolima cities of Ibague and Cajamarca when members of the FARC allegedly threw a bomb at the vehicle.
All three of the men were taken to the nearest hospital and treated for their wounds, although their injuries are not thought to be serious.
The road was temporarily closed as authorities searched the area but has now been reopened.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16717-3-policemen-injured-by-farc-bomb-in-west-central-colombia.html

Spartacus.

10th June 2011, 21:40

FARC delivers a knockout blow to the Colombian army. 20 soldiers are thrown out of action!!! :)

FARC attack on southern Cauca police base kills 4, injures 16

A FARC (http://www.insightcrime.org/criminal-groups/colombia/farc) attack Monday night on police headquarters in Colombia's southern Cauca department has killed four and gravely injured 16, local media reported.
Officials reported that the police barracks were fired on and hit with grenades by guerrilla soldiers during a surprise attack in the El Mango neighborhood of Argelia, in the south of the department.
According to RCN Radio (http://www.rcnradio.com/node/90414), the arrival of reinforcements has been slowed by the continued guerrilla presence into Tuesday morning.
Authorities said that no civilian injuries had been reported, but that there is a great deal of concern among the population in the area.
The injured police are in the process of being evacuated to hospitals in Popayan and Pasto.

"FARC is being defeated and is weakening"-reactionaries say. Well, how are you going to explain this, you fascist bastards??? :lol:

Spartacus.

11th June 2011, 00:31

Yet another victory for the people's army, yet another humiliating defeat for the Colombian fascist state. :)

1 policeman dead, 2 injured in southwest Colombia attack

An attack by armed men killed one policeman and gravely injured two others in southwest Colombia's Cauca department, local media reported Friday.
The men apparently shot at town police in a motorcycle drive-by in the Morales municipality, in the north-central region of the department.
Newspaper El Pais reported (http://www.elpais.com.co/elpais/judicial/policia-muerto-dejo-incursion-farc-en-cauca) that members of the FARC (http://www.insightcrime.org/criminal-groups/colombia/farc)'s 6th Front are believed to be responsible for the incident, while other sources stated (http://www.caracol.com.co/nota.aspx?id=1487317) that the source of the attack is not yet clear.
The two injured policemen were transferred to a medical center, and officials reported that the ambulance driver was also injured.
RCN Radio reported (http://www.rcnradio.com/noticias/tres-homicidios-aumentan-cifra-de-muertes-violentas/10-06-11) three separate homicides occurring in the department in the past 24 hours, including the murder of one farmer in Morales, also presumably by the FARC. It was not clear whether the two incidents are related.
In April, it was reported (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15526-drug-guerrilla-violence-is-crippling-cauca.html) that a combination of armed struggles between security forces, guerrillas and drug trafficking gangs has made Cauca one of the most dangerous departments in the country.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16887-1-policeman-dead-2-injured-in-southwest-colombia-attack.html

It is interesting to note that both of these attacks happened in Cauca. It is obvious that FARC continues to gain strength in that province, despite claims of it being a "defeated force". :rolleyes:

A little bit outdated article further proving how false and utterly stupid are claims about so-called "weakening" of the FARC.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15257-farc-reorganizes-in-meta-department.html

AmericanSocialist

11th June 2011, 13:48

I am proud of our comrades in Colombia. I hope they never give up the fight.
Long live Che
Long live Revolution

Spartacus.

12th June 2011, 18:10

Yet another day, yet another victory for the People's Army and yet another humiliating defeat for the Colombian fascists. :)

7 enemies killed or wounded for 2 FARC loses...

Ongoing combat in southwest Colombia kills police, 2 guerillas

Ongoing combat between the Colombian army and FARC (http://www.insightcrime.org/criminal-groups/colombia/farc) guerrillas in the south-western department of Cauca left at least one policemen and two guerrillas dead. Six soldiers are reportedly injured.
The fighting took place near the towns of Santander de Quilichao and Argelia, both located in an area where the FARC this year has carried out nearly 30 attacks on public forces and towns.
The Cauca department is one of the wordt hit by violence as the territory is of great importance for the transport of illicit drugs to the Pacific coast (http://www.colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16432-farc-trying-to-recover-drug-route-to-pacific-cauca-governor.html) and is contested by the FARC, several neo-paramilitary and the powerful Los Rastrojos (http://insightcrime.org/criminal-groups/colombia/rastrojos), a group formed from the ashes of the Norte del Valle cartel.

http://www.colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16912-onfgoing-combat-in-southwest-colombia-kills-police-2-guerrillas.html

A helicopter has misteriosly crashed. No one mentiones the fact that it could have been shot down. I wonder, who could be behind that act? :lol:

8 die in east-Colombia helicopter crash

Eight policemen died in a helicopter crash in the east of Colombia Saturday.
According to several media reports, the crash took place in Las Salinas, Casanare department.
The helicopter belonged to the National Police and apparently exploded in the sky as wreckage was found spread over a vast area.
Authorities are investigating the accident.

http://www.colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16909-8-die-in-east-colombia-helicopter-crash.html

And this is not the first time it has happened. Quite the contrary...

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16472-2-killed-in-north-colombia-helicopter-crash.html

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/14772-5-soldiers-die-after-helicopter-collision.html

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/14458-army-general-dies-in-helicopter-crash.html

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/9261-death-toll-helicopter-crash-raised-to-7.html

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/3360-four-die-in-military-helicopter-crash.html

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/3101-four-police-die-in-helicopter-crash.html

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/2137-helicopter-crash-in-santander-kills-3.html

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/1695-four-die-in-army-helicopter-crash.html

Why do these helicopters constantly keep crashing? :confused:

Never mind... Today's casualty score: 15 Colombian soldiers thrown out of action. :)

Admiral Swagmeister G-Funk

12th June 2011, 20:03

Reznov

13th June 2011, 00:44

Is there mass support for FARC now? I understand that they still get a small amount of volunteers from poor peasant areas, but are they hailed as a great force? It seems to be on the same kind of level of the provos in Northern Ireland in recent years - the odd dead cop here and there, but with little support and little hope for their struggle.

Agreed. This is the entire point of even waging revolutionary struggle.

However, how would we know what the general opinion of FARC and similar groups are in Colombia?

Spartacus.

15th June 2011, 00:49

To be honest these stats don't really do justice for the movement in Columbia. It is a crisis when the apparent only revolutionary force in a backward nation like Columbia, has to claim the detah of 7 police officers a victory whilst losing 2 of their own young comrades. That isn't a victory, it bears barely any qualitative difference from gang violence you see in other parts of the world in which young people die and cops die too.

1. Learn to spell words correctly. It is Colombia, not Columbia!

2. It is not only 7 police officers. What I'm posting here is only part of the news that are published on the internet. And these news are themselves only part of casualties of the Colombian army in this conflict. Colombian army is notorious for inflating the number of killed guerillas by shooting innocent civilians (false positives), so it wouldn't be surprising that they are hiding some of their losses in order to reduce the scope of conflict in the eyes of the world. This might be helpfull in order to understand the size and importance of the armed conflict in Colombia:

The FARC Factor

Obama and now ex-President Uribe accused Venezuela of offering sanctuary for Colombian guerillas (FARC and ELN). In reality this is a ploy to pressure President Chavez to denounce or at a minimum demand that the FARC give up their armed struggle on terms dictated by the US and Colombian regime.
Contrary to President Uribe and the State Department’s boasts that the FARC is a declining, isolated and defeated fragment of the past, as a result of their successful counter-insurgency campaigns, a recent detailed field study by a Colombian researcher La guerra contra las FARC y la guerra de las FARC demonstrates that in the last 2 years the guerrillas have consolidated their influence over one-third of the country, and that the regime in Bogota controls only half the country. After suffering major defeats in 2008, the FARC and ELN have steadily advanced throughout 2009-2010 inflicting over 1300 military casualties last year and probably near double this year. (La Jornada 8/6/2010). The resurgence and advance of the FARC has crucial importance as far as Washington’s military campaign again Venezuela. It also affects the position of its “strategic ally” – Santos regime. First it demonstrates that despite $6 billion plus in US military aid to Colombia, its counter-insurgency campaign to “exterminate” the FARC has failed. Secondly, the FARC’s offensive opens a “second front” in Colombia, weakening any effort to launch an invasion of Venezuela using Colombia as a “springboard”. Thirdly, faced with a growing internal class war, the new President Santos is more likely to seek to lessen tensions with Venezuela, hoping to relocate troops from the frontier of its neighbor toward the growing guerilla insurgency. In a sense, despite Chavez misgivings about the guerrillas and outspoken calls for ending the guerrilla struggle, the resurgence of the armed movements are likely a prime factor in lessening the prospects of a US directed intervention.

http://petras.lahaine.org/?p=1817

How many "gangs" :rolleyes:, as you ignorantly call the FARC, are able to inflict thousands of losses on their respective nation's army, supported by 10 billion US dollars, thousands of US special forces, Green Berets and advisors, and are able to control 1/3 of national territory, reducing the government control to only one half of the country?

Is there mass support for FARC now? I understand that they still get a small amount of volunteers from poor peasant areas, but are they hailed as a great force? It seems to be on the same kind of level of the provos in Northern Ireland in recent years - the odd dead cop here and there, but with little support and little hope for their struggle.

Is there a mass support for the FARC? Well, they have probably builded up a People's Army that in the 2002 numbered some 20 000 fighters, starting with 48 barely armed campesinos, with the help of satan, Hugo Chavez and International Communist Conspiracy. :rolleyes: I have written a few posts on this topic about the FARC mass support base among Colombians and I have pointed out a investigative journalist Garry Leech as a good source for the FARC, coupled with James Brittain. You are free to consult these authors if you want additional information...

Two outdated articles, which could be usefull for gaining insight into FARC, through the eyes of renewned Marxist James Petras:

Colombia: The FARC and the Trade Unions

Almost all these murders are committed by paramilitary forces closely associated with the Colombian Armed Forces. Over 30,000 people mostly workers, peasant, human rights advocates, leftist political leaders, teachers and health workers have been killed by the Armed Forces and their backers among paramilitary allies over the past decade. Brutal state terrorism is supported by two identical parties, the Liberals and Conservatives, who in turn, purchase protection for their narco trafficking bankers, landlords and industrialists. The oligarchical dictatorial regime, passed off as a democracy in the Western media, is responsible for the emergence of the two guerrilla groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia Peoples Army (FARC-EP) and the National Liberation Army (ELN).
Thirty six years ago, in Marquetalia in the rural interior of Colombia, a group of poor peasants cultivated subsistence farms in a remote area of the country. They attempted to avoid the violent civil war and terror which predominated in the country following the assassination by the Right-wing of populist progressive leader, Eliecer Gaitan. The government however, saw these independent peasant communities as a threat and sent in the army to destroy their settlements and drive them off their land. Among these subsistence farmers there was a young peasant named Manuel Marulanda. Together with 14 other small farmers he began organizing the FARC, The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia which grew over the next 36 years into the biggest and most successful guerrilla army in the Third World, with 16,000-20,000 armed combatants and millions of supporters. Experts claim the FARC is a major influence in over 50% of the country’s municipalities. Over the past 3 years Washington has poured over $2 billion in military aid to bolster the regime under the pretext of fighting the “drug war”, while the major banks in the U.K. and the U.S. launder the bulk of the Colombian elite’s drug profits. To bolster Washington’s and the UK’s war efforts against the FARC, the mass media have jumped in with a propaganda barrage designed to justify the bloody state repression by demonizing the FARC and the ELN. The Bush-Blair propaganda line disseminated by the mass media includes the following arguments.

(1)The “guerrillas” are opposed by the majority of the Colombian people; they are merely armed terrorists defending their lucrative drug trade and destroying democracy.
(2)Colombia is a democracy which is under military siege and has a right to seek outside support form the U.S. and the EU, including military aid, to defeat the FARC.
(3)Colombia’s free market economy and electoral system is best for the Colombian workers and peasants, and the FARC, who oppose it, are enemies of democracy.

Let us examine each one of these propaganda messages. Colombia has one of the lowest voter turnouts in the world: less than 40% of the electorate votes. The reason is they have no choice. Back in the mid-1980s an alternative Leftists electoral coalition, the Patriotic Union (UP), ran successfully for office and was subsequently destroyed: two Presidential candidates were murdered and over 5,000 activists were killed - all “unsolved” cases. Many of the trade unionists and other activists who supported the UP either fled the country, went under underground or joined the guerrillas. While the FARC is mostly based in rural areas, almost one third of its fighters come from the cities and many of these are former trade unionists. The majority of Colombians oppose the Pastrana regime’s socio-economic policies of privatization, regressive labor legislation, cuts in health and education spending, pay reductions and easy firings (20% of the labor force are unemployed, and 30% are underemployed). Opposition to the Colombian version of Thatcherite policies is evident in a number of general strikes, massive protests and major highway blockages that have paralyzed the economy.

In contrast, thousands of trade unionists have attended open forums organized by the FARC in a demilitarized zone to discuss alternative job creating programs, social budgets increasing public investments in health, education and welfare. The great majority of trade union leaders’ socio-economic demands coincide with the program of the FARC and not with President Pastrana’s “free market” program.
Programatically the Pastrana government and the death squads support the same reactionary landlords and bankers, which explains their close military relations, while the FARC’s close ties to peasant and worker unions is based on the similarity of their program.
Almost all of the death squad killings are directed at peasants not landlords, trade unionists not bosses, human rights lawyers not government officials, resistence sympathizers not U.S. military advisers. Colombia could best be described as a “death squad democracy,” in which the electoral facade provides a political cover for a murderous regime.
While the social base of the Pastrana regime has shrunken to less than 15% of the population, mainly big business, landlords, drug bankers and the upper-middle class, the FARC has expanded its base of support throughout the country, from the countryside to the cities. The results published in the press regarding so-called public opinion polls are totally unreliable. Under conditions of high levels of state sponsored paramilitary terror, no group or individual is willing to express their true loyalties. The widespread terror unleashed by the paramilitary forces throughout the major provincial cities, towns and villages against trade unionists and community activists (killing an average of 250 people per month) indicates that vast confluence of views between the peoples’ demands and the FARC. For the Armed Forces and their paramilitary allies, the coincidence of socio-economic reforms proposed by FARC and the similar demands of the trade unions is sufficient reason to kidnap and murder trade unionists as “suspected guerrilla sympathizers.”
The greatest repression - kidnaping, torture and murder of trade unionists takes place where the government troops predominate, and the death squads have a free hand. In the regions and municipalities where the FARC is strong, the trade unions are free to successfully carry on their struggles. In the demilitarized zone - the size of Switzerland - where the FARC rules, not a single trade unionist has been assaulted. In adjoining regions scores have been killed, with impunity. In Army controlled zones, assassinations and kidnaping of trade unionists take place in broad daylight on major roads a few meters from military headquarters. No one is ever arrested nor prosecuted. In FARC regions, the guerrillas actively pursue death squads responsible for murders of trade union and other popular activists, and bring them swiftly to justice.
It is abundantly clear to the majority of working class Colombians who are the “terrorists” and who support their class interests. They know from their experience what system of justice exonerates the assassins of the poor in defense of the rich and who defends their rights to organize and demand a decent standard of living. They know the difference between the current death squad democracy run by the oligarches and the military, and the open, pluralistic democratic forums organized by the FARC in the de-militarized zone. Experience has taught the working class to distrust the regime and sympathize with the FARC.
The Government’s free market policies have devastated the economy. Foreign imports, low prices for primary commodities and the destruction of peasant livelihoods via fumigation have sent Colombia’s economy into its worst economic recession in the last 70 years. The regime floats on foreign loans and rules by force. Its economic program is designed by U.S. and EU bankers and the IMF. Its military policies are dictated by the Pentagon and implemented by the local generals and mercenary U.S. helicopter pilots.
In contrast the FARC grows out of native soil of Colombia: its volunteers are the daughters and sons of the peasantry and the working class, who hate the violence and poverty and humiliations which their families and neighbors suffer under the free market death squad democracy. No guerrilla movement can survive for 36 years, defeat several U.S. sponsored counter-insurgency programs and grow to nearly 20,000 fighters without a vast network of organized supporters in the villages, towns and cities.
The Colombian state survives because it has been colonized by the U.S. military. The FARC thrives because of its solid class and family links to the peasants and workers. The regime supports the millionaire drug cartels; the guerrillas tax the traffickers and protect the peasants while at the same time proposing plans from drug free alternative agriculture, which the U.S. and the Colombian regime refuse to discuss.
Behind all the rhetoric about fighting drugs (with drug dealers and traffickers in command), the Colombian state’s real objective is to impose the harsh class rule of the financial and big business elite on the working people, and to force them to bear the cost of the economic crises. With millions of unemployed crowding the streets and squares, with masses of peasants driven off the land by state terror and crowded into hovels and cardboard shacks on the periphery of the big cities, with hundreds of thousands of trade unionists marching and striking in the capital and with the FARC engaging in military confrontations 60 kilometers from the Presidential Palace, it is clear that the death squads are a main prop for sustaining the regime.
No one except the Government and its local and overseas elites believe that the free market benefits Colombia. It is precisely the abysmal failure of Thatcherite free market policies which has provoked trade union opposition, escalated state violence and expanded the base of support of the FARC. The greatest fear of the Government is that the FARC and the trade unions will be able to cross the bloody barriers, imposed between them by the Armed Forces - and their paramilitary allies, and create a unified leadership to overthrow the regime and create a new democratic, independent socialist regime. To forestall this, the regime is calling for and receiving military and economic support from the U.S. and EU governments. The trade unionists and the FARC need international support form trade unionists in the U.K. and elsewhere to counter the imperialist counter-offensive. A victory for the death squads will weaken the popular struggles throughout Latin America and beyond. With international solidarity and unity of purpose within Colombia a victory would open new vistas for struggle throughout the world.

http://petras.lahaine.org/?p=85

Homage to Manuel Marulanda

Over a period of 60 years he organized peasant movements, rural communities and, when all legal democratic channels were effectively (and brutally) closed, he built the most powerful sustained guerrilla army and supporting underground militias in Latin America. The FARC at its peak between 1999-2005 numbered nearly 20,000 fighters, several hundred thousand peasant-activists, hundreds of village and urban militia units. Even today despite the regime’s forced displacement of 3 million peasants resulting from scorched earth policies and scores of massacres, the FARC has between 10,000-15,000 guerrillas in its numerous ‘fronts distributed throughout the country.
What make Marulanda’s achievements so significant are his organizational abilities, strategic acuity and his intransigent and principled programmatic positions consisting of support of popular demands. Marulanda, more than any other guerrilla leader, had unmatched rapport with the rural poor, the landless, the subsistence cultivators and the rural refugees over three generations.
Beginning in 1964 with two-dozen peasants fleeing villages devastated by a US directed military offensive Marulanda methodically built a revolutionary guerrilla army without either foreign financial or material contributions. Marulanda, more than any other guerrilla leader, was a great rural political teacher. Marulanda’s superb organizing skills were honed on the basis of his intimate ties with peasants – he grew up in a poor peasant family, lived among them cultivating and organizing, and spoke their language addressing their most basic daily needs and future hopes. Conceptually and through daily trial and error, Marulanda worked out a series of strategic political –military operations based on his brilliant understanding of the geographic and human terrain. Between 1964 to his recent death, Marulanda defeated or evaded at least seven major military offensives financed by over $7 billion dollars in US military aid, involving thousands of US ‘Green Berets’, Special Forces, mercenaries, over 250,000 Colombians Armed Forces and 35,000 member paramilitary death squads.
Unlike Cuba or Nicarangua, Marulanda built an organized mass base and trained a largely rural leadership; he openly declared his socialist program and never received political or material support from so-called ‘progressive capitalists’. Colombia’s armed forces were a formidable, highly trained and disciplined repressive apparatus, bolstered by murderous death squads, unlike Batista’s and Somoza’s corrupt and rapacious gangsters, who plundered and retreated under pressure. Marulanda, unlike many better-known ‘poster-boy’ guerrillas, was a virtual unknown among the elegant leftist editors in London, the nostalgic Parisian sixty-eighters and the New York Socialist scholars. Marulanda spent his time exclusively in ‘Colombia profunda’, the deep Colombia, preferring to converse and teach peasants and learn their grievances, rather than giving interviews to adventure-seeking Western journalists. Instead of writing grandiloquent ‘manifestos’ and striking photogenic poses, he preferred the steady, unromantic but eminently effective grass roots pedagogy of the disinherited. Marulanda traveled from virtually inaccessible valleys to mountain ranges, from jungles to plains, organizing, fighting…recruiting and training new leaders. He eschewed tripping off to ‘World Forums’ or following the route of international leftist tourists. He never visited a foreign capital and, it is said, never set foot in the nation’s capital, Bogota. But he had a vast and profound knowledge of the demands of the Afro-Colombians of the Coast, the Indio-Colombians of the mountains and jungles, the land claims of millions of displaced peasants, the names and addresses of abusive landlords who brutalized and raped peasants and their kin.
Throughout the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s numerous guerrilla movements raised arms, fought with greater or lesser capacity and disappeared – killed, surrended (some even turned collaborator) or became immersed in electoral wheeling and dealing. Few in number, they fought in the name of non-existent ‘peoples armies’; most were intellectuals who were more familiar with European narratives than the micro-history and popular culture and legends of the people they tried to organize. They were isolated, encircled and obliterated, perhaps leaving a well-publicized legacy of exemplary sacrifice, but changing nothing on the ground.
In contrast, Marulanda took the best punches thrown by the counter-insurgency Presidents in Bogota and Washington and returned them in spades. For every village that was razed, Marulanda recruited dozens of angry and destitute peasant fighters and patiently trained them to be cadres and commanders. More than any guerrilla army, the FARC became an army of the whole people: one-third of the commanders were women, over seventy percent were peasants although intellectuals and professionals joined and were trained by movement-led cadres. Marulanda was revered for his singularly simple life style: he shared the drenching rain under plastic canopies. He was deeply respected by millions of peasants, but he never in any way cultivated a personality cult-figure: He was too irreverent and modest, preferring to delegate important tasks to a collective leadership, with a good deal of regional autonomy and tactical flexibility. He accepted a diversity of views on tactics, even when he profoundly disagreed. In the early 1980’s, many cadre and leaders decided to try the electoral route, signed a ‘peace agreement’ with the Colombian President, formed an electoral party – the Patriotic Union – and successfully elected numerous mayors and representatives. They even gained a substantial vote in Presidential elections. Marulanda did not publicly oppose the accord but he did not lay down his arms and ‘go down from the mountains to the city’. Much better than the professionals and trade unionists who ran for office, Marulanda understood the profoundly authoritarian and brutal character of the oligarchy and its politicians. He clearly knew that Colombia’s rulers would never accept any land reform just because a ‘few illiterate peasants voted them out of office.’ By 1987 over 5,000 members of the Patriotic Union had been slaughtered by the oligarchy’s death squads, including three presidential candidates, a dozen elected congressmen and women and scores of mayors and city councilors. Those who survived fled to the jungles and rejoined the armed struggle or fled into exile.
Marulanda was a master in evading many encirclement and annihilation campaigns, especially those designed by the best and the brightest from the US Fort Bragg Special Forces counter-insurgency center and the School of the Americas. By the end of the 1990’s the FARC had extended its control to over half the country and was blocking highways and attacking military bases only 40 miles from the capital. Severely weakened, the then President Pastrana finally agreed to serious peace negotiations in which the FARC demanded a de-militarized zone and an agenda that included basic structural changes in the state, economy and society.
Unlike the Central American guerrillas who traded arms for elected office, Marulanda insisted on land redistribution, dismantling of the death squads and dismissal of Colombian generals involved in massacres, a mixed economy largely based on public ownership of strategic economic sectors and large-scale funding for peasants to develop alternative crops to coca, prior to laying down arms.
In Washington President Clinton was hysterical and at first opposed the peace negotiations – especially the reform agenda as well as the open public debates and forums widely attended by Colombian civil society and organized by the FARC in the de-militarized zone. Marulanda’s embrace of democratic debate, demilitarization and structural changes puts the lie to the charge by Western and Latin American social democrats and center-left academics that he was a ‘militarist’. Washington probed to see if they could repeat the Central American peace process – co-opt the FARC leaders with the promise of electoral office and privilege in exchange for selling out the peasants and poor Colombians. At the same time Clinton, with bi-partisan support, pushed through a massive $2 billion dollar appropriation bill to fund the biggest and bloodiest counter-insurgency program since the war in Indochina, dubbed ‘Plan Colombia’. Abruptly ending the peace process, President Pastrana rushed troops into the demilitarized zone to capture the FARC secretariat, but Marulanda and his comrades were long gone.
Between 2002 to the present the FARC alternated from offensive attacks and defensive retreats – mostly the latter since 2006. With an unprecedented degree of US financing and advanced technological support, the newly elected narco-partner and death squad organizer, President Alvaro Uribe took charge of a scorched earth policy to savage the Colombian countryside. Between his election in 2002 and re-election in 2006, over 15,000 peasants, trade unionists, human rights workers, journalists and other critics were murdered. Entire regions of the countryside were emptied – like the US Operation Phoenix in Viet Nam, farmland was poisoned by toxic herbicides. Over 250,000 armed forces and their partners in the paramilitary death squads decimated vast stretches of the Colombian countryside where the FARC exercised hegemony. Scores of US-supplied helicopter gun-ships blasted the jungles in vast search and destroy missions – (which had nothing to do with coca production or the shipment of cocaine to the United States). By destroying all popular opposition and organizations throughout the countryside and displacing millions Uribe was able to push the FARC back toward more defensible remote regions. Marulanda, as in the past, adopted a strategy of defensive tactical retreat, giving up territory in order to safeguard the guerrillas’ capacity to fight another day.
Unlike other guerrilla movements, the FARC did not receive any material support form the outside: Fidel Castro publicly repudiated armed struggle and looked to diplomatic and trade ties with center-left administrations and even better relations with the brutal Uribe. After 2001, the Bush White House labeled the FARC a ‘terrorist organization’ putting pressure on Ecuador and Venezuela to tighten cross-border movements of the FARC in search of supply chains. The ‘center-left’ in Colombia was totally divided between those who gave ‘critical support’ to Uribe’s total war against the FARC and those who ineffectively protested the repression.
It is hard to imagine any guerrilla movement surviving under conditions of massive US financed counter-insurgency, quarter million US-armed soldiers, millions displaced from its mass base and a psychopathic President allied directly to a 35,000 member chain-saw death squads. However Marulanda, cool and determined, directed the tactical retreat; the idea of negotiating a capitulation never entered his mind nor that of the FARC secretariat.
The FARC does not have contiguous frontiers with a supporting country like Vietnam had with China; nor the arms supply from a USSR, nor the international mass support of Western solidarity groups like the Sandinistas. We live in times where supporting peasant-led national liberation movements is not ‘fashionable’, where recognizing the genius of peasant revolutionary leaders who build and sustain authentic mass peoples armies is taboo in the pretentious, loquacious and impotent World Social Formus – which ‘world’ routinely excludes peasant militants and for whom ‘social’ means the perpetual exchange of e-mails between foundations funded by NGO.
It is in this hardly auspicious environment facing US and Colombian Presidents intent on pyrrhic victories, that we can appreciate the political genius and personal integrity of Latin America’s greatest peasant revolutionary, Manuel Marulanda. His death will not generate posters or tee shirts for middle class college students, but he will live forever in the hearts and minds of millions of peasants in Colombia. He will be remembered forever as ‘Tiro Fijo’: the legend who was killed a dozen times and yet returned to the villages to share their simple lives. The only leader who was truly ‘one of them’, the one who confronted the Yankee military and mercenary machine for a half-century and was never captured or defeated.
He defied them all - those in their mansions, presidential palaces, military bases, torture chambers, and bourgeois editorial offices: He died at after 60 years of struggle of natural causes in the arms of his beloved peasant comrades.
Tiro Fijo presente!

http://petras.lahaine.org/?p=1736

Spartacus.

15th June 2011, 01:24

FARC "gang" :D delivers yet another blow to the Colombian army...

2 soldiers dead, 1 injured in Tolima mine field explosion

Two Colombian soldiers died and another was badly injured after stumbling across a mine field in the country's central-western Tolima department early Monday morning, Caracol TV reported (http://www.caracoltv.com/noticias/nacion/video-225230-mueren-dos-militares-al-caer-campo-minado-tolima?utm_source=Twitter+Feed&utm_medium=twitter).
The soldiers, belonging to the army's Patriotas Batallion, were carrying out an inspection patrol operation in the area, between the municipalities of Cajamarca and nearby Ibague, when a mine field exploded, killing two, and gravely injuring one.
The injured soldier was transferred to a medical center in Ibague, but the department's army commander informed Caracol that he had lost his legs in the accident.
The bodies of the two dead soldiers will be transferred to northern Tolima, where they were from.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16933-2-soldiers-die-one-injured-in-tolima-mine-camp-explosion.html

W1N5T0N

23rd June 2011, 11:20

Cleansing Conspiratorial Revolutionary Flame

23rd June 2011, 11:48

When you start ignoring the people you are fighting for, what makes you better than the people oppressing them?
Theres a difference between streetfighting during a demonstration and recklessness. Whatever happened to Gandhi's ideas??

'When you start ignoring the people you are fighting for, what makes you better than the people oppressing them?'

As the Liberation of the Proletariat is key through Armed Struggle, as well is the objective of Proletarian Liberation-- Certainly you're confusing 'Oppression' with the Colombian Government which is a US Supported Puppet Regime; 'Ignoring' is silly as through each victory that Colombian Revolutionaries will make-- Whether large or small, is a victory for the Proletariat of Colombia and a weakening of Imperialism from the United States.
'Theres a difference between streetfighting during a demonstration and recklessness'
You're confusing street fighting within a Demonstration with the actions of Armed Revolutionaries within Colombia that are engaging in a conflict of liberation with the Colombian Government that has Neo-Fascist tendencies and is an Imperialist Puppet State that allows the United States to plunder Colombia.
'Whatever happened to Gandhi's ideas?'
They were National Bourgeois from the beginning and did not aid in the liberation of the Proletariat, Pacifism is only a potential in a struggle against Imperialism and the liberation of the Proletariat-- Only if the Bourgeois is willing to hand over the means of production and only if the Imperialist if willing to stop engaging in Imperialism. (Which they are not. :lol:)

Armed Action is a direct response to the actions of the Colombian Government and is to serve as a tool of the liberation of the Colombian Proletariat against Imperialism and Capitalism.

W1N5T0N

23rd June 2011, 12:54

'When you start ignoring the people you are fighting for, what makes you better than the people oppressing them?'

As the Liberation of the Proletariat is key through Armed Struggle, as well is the objective of Proletarian Liberation-- Certainly you're confusing 'Oppression' with the Colombian Government which is a US Supported Puppet Regime; 'Ignoring' is silly as through each victory that Colombian Revolutionaries will make-- Whether large or small, is a victory for the Proletariat of Colombia and a weakening of Imperialism from the United States.

Yes, that may eb the case, but wouldn't their support from the population and therefore the case for their revolution weaken if they continue to harm civilians they are trying to free? a kind of "collateral damage"?

Armed Action is a direct response to the actions of the Colombian Government and is to serve as a tool of the liberation of the Colombian Proletariat against Imperialism and Capitalism.

The point I was making was NOT against armed action, but it was against taking unnecessary actions where civilians get hurt! It should be possible to commit strikes against an oppressor without actually killing the same people you want to liberate. Any political violence, whether imperialist or revolutionary, should not go unchecked.

El Oso Rojo

23rd June 2011, 22:51

Spartacus.

28th June 2011, 17:46

Don't like this, that not good.

Mistakes always happen... It is not exactly that the FARC has intentionally killed the child. Of course, if we presume that the news report is correct. According to renewned author James Brittain, Colombian army is notorious for staging false-flag attacks on civilians and claiming that guerrillas did it. I put a link on the false positives case which explains their habit of exterminating Colombian children due to their inability to defeat the real guerrillas. So, FARC has unintentionally killed one child. The Colombian army has intentionally exterminated thousands of innocent children!!!

In every war both revolutionary and counter-revolutionary sides are going to commit crimes. The question remains who is going to come out with cleaner hands. In this war that is definitely the FARC. Thinking that wars, and especially bloody, civil, revolutionary wars could be fought without some excesses is just plain and simply, naive...

Spartacus.

28th June 2011, 17:55

The EPL, the Hoxhaist guerrilla group in Colombia is still alive and it has carried out its first attack in quite a some time. That is a good news. Let us hope they will soon regain their former strength. :)

1 guerrilla dead, 1 injured during attack on north Colombia police station

A confrontation between guerrillas and local police in northern Colombia (http://colombiareports.com) left one guerrilla dead and another gravely injured, Caracol Radio reported Monday (http://www.caracol.com.co/nota.aspx?id=1495633).
Guerrillas reportedly attacked a local police station in the municipality of San Calixto, near the Venezuelan border in the Norte de Santander department.
Norte de Santander Police Commander Carlos Enrique Villadiego said that combat took place over the course of several hours, as guerrillas attempted to take control of the police station. Many of the guerrillas escaped to the surrounding jungle, while authorities captured one, who was seriously injured, and killed another during the course of the confrontation.
According to Villadiego, preliminary evidence indicates that the guerrillas may have belonged to the Popular Liberation Army (EPL).
Authorities have increased security in the area to prevent new attacks from occurring.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/17237-1-guerrilla-dead-1-injured-in-north-colombia-confrontation-with-police.html

Spartacus.

6th July 2011, 17:57

Sorry for such a long pause, but I was to preoccupied to post here. It was pretty warm in Colombia, and I'm not just thinking on the weather. :D The Colombian fascists tried to kill our beloved comrade, Alfonso Cano, the Supreme Leader of the FARC, but they utterly failed, as usual. :lol:
Cano has managed to retreat on the time and thus escape nearly 10 000 Colombian fascist soldiers that are trying to eliminate him. Oh, yeah, he also left them his cigars so they could comfort themselves after their failure. :D

According to television station Canal Caracol, the army found large quantities of the cigarettes the FARC leader likes to smoke.

Colombian armed forces attack on FARC leader spark rumours about Alfonso Cano's death

Armed forces have been attacking the assumed main hide-out of supreme FARC (http://www.insightcrime.org/criminal-groups/colombia/farc) leader "Alfonso Cano" since Tuesday, reported Colombian media Sunday. The attacks sparked speculations the guerrilla leader had been killed in one of the raids.

According to several media, the attacks on the FARC leader, who is suspected to be located in the mountainous region on the border of the Cauca, Tolima and Huila region, started Tuesday and Cano's main camp has been hit by an air force raid. The army on Sunday reportedly was in the area looking for remains, but were hindered by difficult conditions.
According to Jineth Bedoya Lima, editor of the Colombia's largest newspaper El Tiempo (http://twitter.com/#!/jbedoyalima/statuses/87597966151532544), "the blow was struck last Thursday between Huila, Cauca en Tolima. They are identifying the bodies." The journalist Tweeted the army is certain that Alfonso Cano was in the bombed camp.
Diego Santos, director of El Tiempo, wrote on his Twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/diegoasantos/statuses/87601081701507072) that high military sources said that Alfonso Cano had not been killed.
Jose Obdulio Gaviria, a former presidential adviser, wrote on his Twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/JOSEOBDULIO/status/87589122960654336) that "serious sources" personally had confirmed the FARC leader was in the area that was bombed.
Political analyst and prominent columnist Natalia Springer tweeted (http://twitter.com/#!/nataliaspringer/status/87589614839275522) that "an army source of the highest credibility confirms ... the possible death of Cano." Minutes later, Springer wrote: "Nothing confirmed (http://twitter.com/#!/nataliaspringer/status/87592771262754816). Nothing confirmed. What is known is that personal belongings of Cano were found."
According to television station Canal Caracol, the army found large quantities of the cigarettes the FARC leader likes to smoke.
President Juan Manuel Santos wrote on his Twitter he was in Chaparral, just miles north of the alleged hide-out of the FARC leader and will hold a press conference regarding the operations when returning to Bogota (http://colombiareports.com/travel-in-colombia/bogota.html).
It is the second time this year that media speculate over the possible death of Cano. In February, political website La Silla Vacia reported his death (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/14472-conflicting-reports-about-death-of-alfonso-cano-.html), but was forced to retract after this proved to be false.
The army has intensely been looking for the FARC leader since he assumed power of the organization in March 2008 when FARC founder Pedro Antonio Marin, alias "Tirofijo" died of a heart attack.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/17380-colombian-armed-forces-attack-on-farc-leader-spark-rumors-about-alfonso-canos-death.html

Alfonso Cano barely escaped armed forces attack on camp

"Alfonso Cano," the supreme leader of guerrilla group FARC (http://www.insightcrime.org/criminal-groups/colombia/farc), only just escaped an attack on his camp carried out by Colombian armed forces, the country's President Juan Manuel Santos said Sunday.
According to the President, Colombian armed forces had bombed the camp where the FARC leader was hiding. Ground troops that entered the site found Cano's clothes and his dogs, Santos said.
"Cano did not die Thursday, but he will soon," the President said immediately after arriving from Chaparral, a town in the south of the Tolima department, a few miles from where the armed forces say they bombed the FARC camp in operations that began Tuesday.
According to Santos, the FARC leader's location was made known to authorities "by his own men."
The attack on Cano's camp had sparked rumors about the death of the guerrilla leader (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/17380-colombian-armed-forces-attack-on-farc-leader-spark-rumors-about-alfonso-canos-death.html)earlier Sunday.
In September last year, Santos also announced that Colombian armed forces had almost killed Cano (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/12123-colombia-alfonso-cano.html) and in February this year rumors surged that the supreme FARC leader had died. "We are waiting for a mistake by Cano," said Santos.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/17382-alfonso-cano-escaped-armed-forces-attack-on-camp-santos.html

Colombian authorities continue search for the FARC leader

Some 6,000 members of Colombia (http://colombiareports.com/)'s armed forces continue to search for FARC (http://www.insightcrime.org/criminal-groups/colombia/farc) leader "Alfonso Cano" following the guerrilla leader's alleged close escape on Thursday (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/17382-alfonso-cano-escaped-armed-forces-attack-on-camp-santos.html), local media reported Monday.
Cano is being searched for near Chaparral, a town in the south of the Tolima department where the leader allegedly fled his main camp only hours before an incursion by armed forces.
According to newspaper El Tiempo (http://www.eltiempo.com/justicia/ARTICULO-WEB-NEW_NOTA_INTERIOR-9796706.html), there is ongoing fighting in the region between the armed forces and FARC guerrillas.
Area residents have reportedly expressed concern for their safety. Chaparral mayor Ana Maria Pascua told RCN Radio (http://www.rcnradio.com/noticias/desde-chaparral-se-dirigen-las-operaciones-contra-alias-alfonso-cano/04-07-11) that in response to the army operations, the FARC have increased grenade attacks and the extortion of community leaders in the region.
In respect to the operations, President Juan Manuel Santos stated Sunday that "the instruction is to intensify; the instruction is to persevere; the instruction is to continue with the offensive."
Santos claimed that the biggest success resulting from the Thursday operation (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/17382-alfonso-cano-escaped-armed-forces-attack-on-camp-santos.html), in which authorities discovered Cano's clothes and dogs at his camp in El Cañon de las Hermosas, just outside the southern Tolima town, and near the border with both Cauca and Huila, is that the guerrilla head has been pushed out of his "sanctuary."
"He has not been able to return to what he considered his sanctuary," said the president, adding that Cano "sooner or later is going to fall, as all of the FARC leaders are going to fall, as they have been falling."
The current effort is a continuation of a larger operation that has already led to the deaths of various guerrilla leaders, most recently alias "Jeronimo," (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15041-top-farc-leader-jeronimo-death-confirmed.html) according to authorities.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/17393-colombian-authorities-continue-search-for-alfonso-cano.html

The FARC have always been in Chaparral

The mayor of the mountain town of Chaparral, where Colombia (http://colombiareports.com/)'s armed forces have been involved in an intense manhunt for FARC (http://www.insightcrime.org/criminal-groups/colombia/farc) leader "Alfonso Cano," said Monday the guerrillas have "always" been in her town.
"Chaparral has always had the presence of the FARC," Ana Maria Pascuas, mayor of Chaparral, told W Radio (http://wradio.com.co/nota.aspx?id=1499402).
Referring to recent military operations (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/17393-colombian-authorities-continue-search-for-alfonso-cano.html) against Alfonso Cano, the supreme leader of FARC forces, Pascuas said that the citizens of Chaparral knew what was happening and who Colombian armed forces were searching for.
"The locals were expected to know what was happening because they saw much movement and army helicopters," said Pascuas.
The mayor also stated that because of continuing military operations the FARC have increased the level of violence in the Chaparral region and have begun extorting leaders for money and attacking property.
Nevertheless Pascuas says that the prolonged presence of the FARC in Chaparral has granted the citizens of her city a perspective that gives them the bravery to deal with the current military operation and FARC reprisals.
Chaparral is the transportation hub in a region of mountainous terrain, an ideal base for FARC guerrillas. Part of the Colombian Massif, Chaparral is located in a valley in the northern outreach of the Andes, which provides more than 70% of Colombia's safe drinking water.
Last week Colombian armed forces launched an attack which they claimed nearly resulted in the capture of Alfonso Cano.
The search for the guerrilla will reportedly continue throughout the week.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/17395-the-farc-have-always-been-in-chaparral-mayor.html

Colombian army admits that FARC is strong and that it is going to take years to "defeat" them. They also admit huge support for the FARC among local population. :)

said that achieving long-term successes against the guerrillas in their traditional strongholds is "is going to take years," because of the terrain, extreme weather conditions and close ties between the population and the rebels.
Defeating FARC in traditional strongholds a "matter of years"

Army and government officials in the south of Tolima department in central Colombia (http://colombiareports.com/), where state forces are involved in an intense manhunt for FARC-leader “Alfonso Cano,” (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/17393-colombian-authorities-continue-search-for-alfonso-cano.html) said that achieving long-term successes against the guerrillas in their traditional strongholds is "is going to take years," because of the terrain, extreme weather conditions and close ties between the population and the rebels.
Meanwhile, the director of the National Police, General Oscar Naranjo, told media Tuesday that the arrest or death of Cano will only be “a matter of weeks,” (http://www.caracol.com.co/nota.aspx?id=1499848) although he conceded that military operations are difficult to conduct because of the high altitude in the region where Cano is believed to be located.
The FARC (http://www.insightcrime.org/criminal-groups/colombia/farc) commander is believed to be just north of the town of Chaparral in some of the most rugged terrain in Colombia. The region is dominated by steep canyons and towering peaks that reach over 14,000 feet and are blanketed with clouds for all but a handful of days during the year.
As a result, it is difficult for the military to detect Cano’s location with satellite imagery and reconnaissance planes. It is also difficult for the army to rapidly deploy troops because it is often too dangerous for helicopters to operate in the cloud-covered mountain terrain. According to Lieutenant-Colonel Rodolfo Mantilla, commander of the Caicedo Mountain Battalion, “Success is often determined by the weather. When we receive intelligence about the guerrillas we have to try and maintain that intelligence sometimes for four, five or six days until the weather clears and we can launch an operation.”
Instead of relying on air support, the Colombian army’s strategy has been to flood the region with ground troops in an effort to gain control over territory. But it has been slow going for the army. As Mantilla explains, “Our troops can only move one or two kilometers a day because of the steep canyons and the landmines planted by the guerrillas. It is also difficult because it only takes one civilian to tell the FARC where our troops are and we can be easily ambushed.” Nevertheless, the army has had some success, including last month’s killing of Cano’s security chief, Alirio Ropas Bocanegra.
While General Naranjo believes that Cano will be killed or captured within weeks, the defeat of the FARC remains far off, said Mantilla. Despite the military’s many successes against the FARC in recent years, it continues to struggle in its efforts to make significant headway in the guerrilla group’s traditional strongholds, including the rugged mountains of southern Tolima. Consequently, notes Mantilla, “There has been a lot of blood spilled in these mountains, by our soldiers and by the guerrillas. This is not a mission that can be accomplished in weeks, or in months. It is going to take years.”
Consequently, while some army units are directly engaged in search-and-destroy missions targeting Cano, others are seeking to consolidate control over recent territorial gains. The strategy intends to win the “hearts and minds” of Colombian peasants who have lived under FARC rule for the past 45 years in order to undermine local support for the guerrillas. In 2008, the army began making frequent incursions into remote hamlets situated in the municipality of Chaparral. But as has occurred in many regions throughout Colombia under the government’s democratic security strategy, the army’s advancement into FARC-controlled territory has involved the perpetration of human rights abuses.
During the first year of the army’s efforts to extend state control in the municipality of Chaparral, 823 peasants were forcibly displaced by military operations, according to statistics provided by the Inspector General’s office—the government agency responsible for investigating human rights abuses. The government’s local human rights investigator, Claudia Pena, says there have also been four cases of “false-positives” in the municipality, where the army has executed civilians and reported them as guerrillas killed in combat. However, local residents in one mountain village claim that there has been double that number of false-positives in their community alone. One resident says that the army killed villagers simply because they assumed they were guerrillas.
It is difficult to obtain accurate statistics regarding human rights abuses because, according to Pena, “The people have been caught in the middle of the conflict and are afraid to say who is responsible for killings that occur. When a community refuses to help the army then soldiers assume that they are guerrillas. The same happens when they refuse to help the guerrillas, who accuse them of being army informants.”
Over the past 18 months, the army has begun to consolidate its control over territory by establishing a permanent presence in several remote mountain villages and hamlets. One such village is Santa Barbara, where the departmental government has built a new “mega-school” to serve the 10,000 residents that live in the village and its surrounding hamlets. One local community leader says that the government also provided computers and bicycles for free. The new school, as is the case with other schools in the region, also serves a military purpose. According to Lt. Col. Mantilla, “We are implementing programs in schools throughout the municipality to deter children from wanting to join the guerrillas.”
Not all of the communities in which the army has recently established a permanent presence have received the same amount of attention as Santa Barbara. Three months ago, the army established itself in the mountain village of Limon, which historically was a full day of travel by four-wheel-drive jeep from the town of Chaparral, where the Caicedo Mountain Battalion is based. The state recently paved the rugged dirt track that constituted the principal access route into that mountainous region and it now takes only two hours to reach the remote village.
But like many other former FARC-controlled regions that are now in the government’s hands, the military constitutes the only permanent state presence. Representatives of the government’s Social Action agency only visit the village of Limon once a week and never venture out to the even more remote hamlets. Similarly, Limon’s health clinic, which serves the 5,000 peasants that live in the village and its surrounding hamlets, is only staffed by a nurse, with a doctor visiting on Sundays.
Most peasants living in Limon and its surrounding hamlets live in extreme poverty, supporting themselves through subsistence agriculture and by cultivating a handful of cash crops such as cacao and coffee. However, because most of the farming occurs in the remote hamlets, it is difficult for peasants to get their crops to the market in the town of Chaparral. While the new road has helped, many still have to first transport their crops by mule on dirt trails from their hamlets to Limon; a journey that often involves a four-hour or more trek each way.
Most of the communities throughout the region have lived under FARC rule for decades. The community leader in Limon explains that the FARC ensured there was no violence or crime, and also that farmers didn’t damage the environment. Under state control, there has been an increase in crime and no improvement in the economy. According to a community leader in Limon who belongs to the local Community Action Council (Junta Acción Comunal), “The military is the only state presence here. We need more investment in technology and in infrastructure, like improving the trails so peasants can get their crops to market easier. This is the only way to eliminate the poverty.”
Much of the local population is both distrustful of the new military presence and afraid that the guerrillas might target them if they cooperate with government agencies. The desire to appear neutral is evidenced in the words of a 73-year-old woman named Armelia, who has lived her entire life in the hamlet of Jasminia. Armelia says that the guerrillas never bothered the community and neither does the army. However, she wishes someone would help alleviate the extreme poverty in which she lives, claiming that there has been no change in the social and economic situation during her long life.
While many peasants strive to appear neutral, some are involved with one side or the other in the conflict. One resident of Limon explained that many families have children in the FARC. Another said that the extreme poverty leads many to join either the guerrillas or the army. According to Lt. Col. Mantilla, sometimes when peasants from regions traditionally controlled by the FARC want to join the guerrillas, the rebel group tells them to join the army instead so they can act as informants. Mantilla claims to have discovered two soldiers in his battalion during the last two months of 2010 that were FARC members who had infiltrated his unit.
There is no question that the FARC has been hurt by a more aggressive Colombian military, which has benefited from more than $7 billion in U.S. aid and training over the past decade. The guerrilla group’s influence in regions where it expanded its presence during the 1980s and 1990s has been either completely eliminated or has been diminished significantly in recent years.
The FARC’s focus on a military presence in most of these regions often led to local populations viewing the guerrillas as outsiders. The rebel group’s failure to establish close ties to local populations allowed the newly-strengthened and more aggressive Colombian military to defeat it in those regions. As a result, the visible guerrilla presence in northern and central Colombia, as well as in the far eastern departments of Guainía, Vaupés and Amazonas, has been virtually eradicated. However, it is difficult to determine to what extent the FARC still operates clandestinely in these regions.
The FARC now only maintain a significant visible presence in only three regions of the country: the south-east (Meta, Guaviare, Caquetá and Putumayo); the south-central highlands (Huila and southern Tolima); and the south-west (Nariño, Cauca, Valle de Cauca and southern Chóco). Even in these traditional strongholds where the FARC remains organically linked with much of the peasant population, the guerrillas have been forced to retreat to the most remote areas.
Despite these setbacks, the FARC’s military strength and popular support remains relatively intact in its traditional strongholds. In fact, according to a 2010 report issued by the Bogota (http://colombiareports.com/travel-in-colombia/bogota.html)-based NGO Corporacion Nuevo Arco Iris, more soldiers and police were killed in 2010 than at the height of the conflict in 2002. However, many of these casualties resulted from defensive actions by the FARC such as the planting of landmines, whereas ten years ago soldiers and police were being killed in large-scale guerrilla offensives launched against small and medium sized towns. Nevertheless, the FARC continues to carry out offensive actions, conducting more than 1,800 attacks in 2010, albeit on a much smaller scale than previously.Furthermore, the overwhelming majority of these attacks occurred in the three regions in which the FARC maintains a strong presence rather than throughout the country.
Many of these attacks have targeted the thousands of troops that are hunting Cano in southern Tolima. Mantilla claims it is difficult to determine exactly how many guerrillas are protecting the FARC’s supreme leader. There are several concentric rings of security surrounding the FARC commander as well as guerrilla units that engage in offensive operations throughout the region. There are also many FARC militia members living in the hundreds of hamlets and villages that are scattered throughout the mountains, as well as in the town of Chaparral. As Mayor Ana María Pascuas told W Radio Monday, “The FARC has always been present in Chaparral (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/17395-the-farc-have-always-been-in-chaparral-mayor.html).”

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/17405-defeating-farc-in-traditional-strongholds-a-matter-of-years-army.html

Alfonso Cano and his 12 men are able to evade and defeat a hundred time more Colombian fascists. Now, not even Che Guevara was able to do that. :lol:

FARC leader left with only 12 men, pursued by 1000

As his forces are spread thin to repel the army, FARC (http://www.insightcrime.org/criminal-groups/colombia/farc) supreme leader "Alfonso Cano" has been left without significant security forces, El Tiempo reported based on intelligence sources Wednesday. (http://www.eltiempo.com/justicia/asi-es-la-operacion-rastrillo-del-ejercito-contra-alfonso-cano_9815104-4)

The paper claimed that Cano may have as few as a dozen bodyguards as he is pursued by more than a thousand government forces between the Caños de las Hermosas and the river Ata. The paper further speculated that Cano is likely separated from other FARC forces in the area.
Commander of the armed forces Admiral Edgar Cely was somewhat less optimistic about the operation and stressed that the effort to push the FARC out of their stronghold in Tolima would be a long-term operation.
"This is a long-haul operation," said Cely, "[it will take] many months to establish a containment fence. The goal is to surround this vast area and put pressure on the guerillas so that they cannot avoid it."
The government believes that it is hot on the trail of Cano, and has stated that it expects to capture him within a matter of weeks.
Cely expressed the difficulty of fighting the FARC in their mountainous home terrain. "This is a confrontation against an enemy that has spent a long time in the mountains, who blends in well with the mountains, who lives there and seems to know if we launch an attack or patrol."
The operation against Cano is currently being conducted in Tolima in the municipality of Chaparral, a rugged, mountainous terrain (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/17405-defeating-farc-in-traditional-strongholds-a-matter-of-years-army.html) that has long been home to FARC guerrillas.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/17430-farc-leader-left-with-only-12-men-pursued-by-1000-el-tiempo.html

Let us hope everything will be OK with Alfonso and that he will continue to lead FARC for many more years to the final victory of Colombian Revolution. :)

Spartacus.

7th July 2011, 15:41

FARC deals yet another blow to the Colombian fascist government. :)

FARC kill soldier in north-Colombia combat

As the government seeks to hem in (http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/17430-farc-leader-left-with-only-12-men-pursued-by-1000-el-tiempo.html) FARC (http://www.insightcrime.org/criminal-groups/colombia/farc) commander Alfonso Cano in the mountainous center of the country, a soldier was killed in a clash (http://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/oriente/un-soldado-murio-en-ataque-de-las-farc-en-el-catatumbo-_9817384-4) with the FARC in northern Colombia (http://colombiareports.com/).
The soldier died in a gunfight after FARC forces ambushed his unit in the Catatumbo region, known for its mountainous jungle. Reinforcements were sent to assist the soldier's unit, but they could not save his life.
The Catatumbo region is a hotbed of FARC activity, with 60 attacks reported in the region this year. It is located close to Colombia's border with Venezuela in the department of Norte de Santander, and is home to both revolutionary instability and significant oil deposits.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/17439-soldier-killed-by-farc-in-northern-colombia.html