FARC kills councillors

[Janus]

As Colombian elections draw closer, FARC is becoming more active.

BBC News

Suspected left-wing rebels have burst into a town councillors' meeting in Colombia and opened fire, killing at least seven people, police say.
The attack happened at a hotel in the village of Rivera, several hundred kilometres south-west of Bogota.

Members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) rebel group dressed as police carried out the attack, the authorities said.

On Saturday a Farc attack on a civilian bus killed nine people.

Rebels shot at the bus tyres, causing it to crash, and then opened fire on passengers and attempted to set the vehicle ablaze, the military said.

The attack happened in Caqueta province, next to the Huila department where Monday's shootings took place.

[Tekun]

Yep, they're intensifying their attacks
Which I don't know if its a good thing

Don't get me wrong, I support their initial ambitions
But attacking a bus that failed to stop on the road, seems a lil uncalled for
From what I've heard :unsure:

[violencia.Proletariat]

I really question if that bus story is even true. For all we know it could be a fucking right wing paramilitary who did it. Has FARC addmitted to doing it?

[Janus]

Has FARC addmitted to doing it?
If they do, foreign presses don't state it unlike the Palestinian groups. So you could be right though many paramilitaries have disbanded recently.

[ColinH]

There is questionable accuracy in any stories that come from the mouths of the "authorities."

http://gnn.tv/headlines/7835/Mainstream_Me..._Foreign_Policy (http://gnn.tv/headlines/7835/Mainstream_Media_an_Instrument_of_U_S_Foreign_Poli cy)

[Tekun]

Originally posted by [email protected] 28 2006, 03:33 AM
I really question if that bus story is even true. For all we know it could be a fucking right wing paramilitary who did it. Has FARC addmitted to doing it?
I completely agree, that's why I expressed doubt in what I had heard

The Colombian gov recently made "peace" with the paramilitaries
But this action was more of a facade to world community, and an attempt to implicate any violence towards civilians, as being the work of FARC

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Right, first we don't know if FARC did this.

Second, we don't even know if this happened.

Third, we don't know if the people really were civilians.

And lastly, even if FARC did do it, it doesn't change anything. There's been a ban on travel in the region for some time, and everyone knows about it. If some group of people defies it, what do you expect to happen?

When FARC makes a travel ban in a certain area in a self defense move, and a bus full of people defies it, how do they know it's not a group of paramilitaries or soldiers?

[Janus]

Well, here's the article for the bus incident.
BBC News

At least eight people were killed in an attack on a civilian bus by left-wing rebels Farc in southern Colombia.
Rebels shot at the bus tyres, causing it to crash, and then opened fire on passengers and attempted to set the vehicle ablaze, the military said.

The bus was travelling in a convoy under army escort but had fallen behind as it stopped to pick up passengers.

The Farc has tried to impose a ban on the movement of all vehicles in Caqueta province for the last 10 days.

Wipe-out

The attack occurred on a remote highway near Puerto Rico, 310km (190 miles) south-west of the capital Bogota.

The Farc said the traffic ban was aimed in part in protest at the re-election bid of hard-liner President Alvaro Uribe.

Mr Uribe, who has vowed to wipe out the Farc through military force, is likely to be returned to office come May's election.

Several vehicles which ignored the ban have been fired upon and set alight prompting the army to introduce armed escorts.

Right, first we don't know if FARC did this.

Second, we don't even know if this happened.

Third, we don't know if the people really were civilians.

Since we weren't there to experience it for ourselves, there is always the chance that the information is false.

[QUOTE]When FARC makes a travel ban in a certain area in a self defense move, and a bus full of people defies it, how do they know it's not a group of paramilitaries or soldiers?
Definitely though it would be extremely foolish for soldiers to travel around in a bus like that.

But establishing free-fire zones doesn't really help anything out (as the US found out in Vietnam) because people still need to move around and some may not be aware of it. Though in this case, the bus riders must have been aware of it or else they wouldn't have gotten an army escort. I also find it suspicious that the convoy would just leave the bus, which it was supposed to protect, behind.