FARC kills 28 Colombian soldiers

[violencia.Proletariat]

Suspected left-wing rebels have killed 28 Colombian soldiers guarding workers involved in coca eradication efforts.
A spokesman said the Farc attack came as the elite forces provided security for workers manually destroying coca plants, used to make cocaine.

This is thought to be the deadliest attack the security forces have suffered under President Alvaro Uribe.

A BBC correspondent in Colombia says Mr Uribe will demand a swift response from the already overstretched army.

The counter-guerrilla troops were ambushed by fighters of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in one of their southern jungle strongholds near the town of Vista Hermosa, in Meta province, an army spokesman said.

The BBC's Jeremy McDermott says the soldiers from a mobile brigade were ambushed in what sources indicate was a slick and devastating attack.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4563098.stm


my question is, if this story is credible, what is farc up to? do they still have their aims to take over state power? or are they trying to make more money to help accomplish that.

[Colombia]

Well of course they do! The answer is yes to both your questions.

If they didn't want state power, then why would they still be fighting?

[SimonBolivar]

It is easy for some of you to support FARC because you dont live in Colombia.
Farc have some goood ideologies, but after over 40 years of violence and corruption.. they barely have support of the peasents and no support in the middle class.
As far as me, a Colombian that have lived day by day with violence from Paramilitarism and guerrilla. FARC are a group of MURDERS

[violencia.Proletariat]

If they didn't want state power, then why would they still be fighting?

thats what my question was. were they protecting the plants? or is that just a fabricated story. because if the story is true it seems they are only fighting to protect drugs.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

It's not that the FARC-EP doesn't want to seize state power, it's that they're unable. It's almost a stalemate at this point. They have to raise continious funds and build the army just to keep up with the huge, imperialist funded armed forces of state repression.

That scum bag Uribe has really stepped it up too.. though it's good for revolutionaries to note that FARC has stood its ground throughout his term, and in fact even made gains!

Viva FARC-EP!

[Enragé]

Originally posted by [email protected] 30 2005, 07:41 PM


Viva FARC-EP!

It is easy for some of you to support FARC because you dont live in Colombia.
Farc have some goood ideologies, but after over 40 years of violence and corruption.. they barely have support of the peasents and no support in the middle class.
As far as me, a Colombian that have lived day by day with violence from Paramilitarism and guerrilla. FARC are a group of MURDER[er]S

[violencia.Proletariat]

Originally posted by NewKindOfSoldier+Dec 30 2005, 05:19 PM--> (NewKindOfSoldier @ Dec 30 2005, 05:19 PM)
[email protected] 30 2005, 07:41 PM


Viva FARC-EP!

It is easy for some of you to support FARC because you dont live in Colombia.
Farc have some goood ideologies, but after over 40 years of violence and corruption.. they barely have support of the peasents and no support in the middle class.
As far as me, a Colombian that have lived day by day with violence from Paramilitarism and guerrilla. FARC are a group of MURDER[er]S [/b]
and there are also colombians on this board who fully support the farc. we have to think, the propaganda against farc is probably the worst in colombia. we must ask if these colombians are buying into that or not.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

I'm not far from Colombia at all, and I know people who live there. They all support FARC.

Believe it or not, just because someone says something on an internet, it doesn't make it true! :o

[Enragé]

Originally posted by nate+Dec 30 2005, 09:26 PM--> (nate @ Dec 30 2005, 09:26 PM)
Originally posted by [email protected] 30 2005, 05:19 PM

[email protected] 30 2005, 07:41 PM


Viva FARC-EP!

It is easy for some of you to support FARC because you dont live in Colombia.
Farc have some goood ideologies, but after over 40 years of violence and corruption.. they barely have support of the peasents and no support in the middle class.
As far as me, a Colombian that have lived day by day with violence from Paramilitarism and guerrilla. FARC are a group of MURDER[er]S
and there are also colombians on this board who fully support the farc. we have to think, the propaganda against farc is probably the worst in colombia. we must ask if these colombians are buying into that or not. [/b]
good point

[Faceless]

Coca is for many peasants a vital means of subsistence which has been forced upon them. Before colonisation it was a traditionally grown crop which is not the same thing as cocaine. The "war on drugs" is a war to make the poor peasantry of latin america illegal. It is not a war against cocaine, the CIA are gangsters involved in that trade. This is a war against the producers of coca.

This is not support for the FARC, although I may support this tactic. All I am saying is that the target, directly or otherwise, was state violence. State violence which is aimed at the "domesticaion" of the colombian peasant.

Why do colombian peasants grow coca?

>It will grow on the poorer soils which they have been pushed onto by land owners.
>It is easily marketable.

Why do the colombian government, in alliance with the americans, attempt to eliminate the crop?

>It is an easy cover for counter-insurgency
>It is a useful tool for the forced eviction of peasants from their land and for land grabbing.

[metalero]

The attack on the army elite forces in Vista Hermosa, Plan Patriota's second stronghold, was a big blow against Alvaro Uribe's Plan Patriota, who vowed to destroy FARC (who are in the biggest offensive since 2002) in less than 18 months and had already claimed the victory of the imperialist army and its paramilitary allies. Uribe has spent more than 4.000 million dollars on military, which most of the money goes into corrupted military pocket and back to the american military-industrial complex. In the mean time, He's shutting down public hospitals, privatizing state companies and claiming there's no money to fund public education (war profiteering seems a priority rather than constitutional rights such as health and education). This attack shows the cruel reality of the armed conflict, 19 year old poor peasants are forced by law to join the military service to protect oligarchy's interests while Uribe and his buddies talk about democracy and terrorism, feasting in opulence while the majority of colombians live in poverty, looking to survive day by day against state terrorism, agrarian counter-reform, attack on workers right to organize,immunity laws for massacres perpetrators, high taxes and poor social spending.
Historical and material contradictions in Colombia are reaching a limit, It's just a matter of time before a social explosion occur.


It is easy for some of you to support FARC because you dont live in Colombia.
Farc have some goood ideologies, but after over 40 years of violence and corruption.. they barely have support of the peasents and no support in the middle class.
As far as me, a Colombian that have lived day by day with violence from Paramilitarism and guerrilla. FARC are a group of MURDERS

Typical answer from a petty buorgois. Many people I know support the FARC or see their armed struggle as legitimate, It's just a matter of not going around saying it, since paramilitaries will inmediately shoot you in the head just for saying so.

It's very arguable calling FARC murderers. but why don't you mention Paramilitaries that are taking over Colombia, who have allegedly committed horrendous massacres, control most of the Coca production, have displaced more than 2.000.000 peasants from their land, openly claim they control 35% of the congress and force the population to follow Uribe's agenda?

[ReD_ReBeL]

just came into my mind, if the US regard FARC as a terrorist organisation, why havn't they not shut down the FARC-EP website?

[Colombia]

The website is hardly updated anyway, nor will it actually solve anything for the civil war since most Colombians don't have internet anyway.

Ditto on what everyone has been saying. The FARC has its problems, but all groups do in one way or another.

[Correa]

FARC's victory will be an important factor in the future of Latin America. One step closer to Latin American unification. FARC must be supported, this is our goal.

[Guerrilla22]

Its interesting that every time some soldiers get killed in Colombia, that they are always "Colombian" never US special forces or mercenaries and that they are alaways killed when "attempting to eradicate coca."

[Karl Marx's Camel]

As far as me, a Colombian that have lived day by day with violence from Paramilitarism and guerrilla. FARC are a group of MURDERS

Of course they are. Isn't that part of what guerilla groups do? Killing?

[Guerrilla22]

Part of that killing is coming from the Colombian goverment also. let's not pin the civl war in Colombia soley on FARC, or ELN.