Local opposition leader killed by FARC

[izquierda80]

Firstly, please forgive me for making a new post about this but the last one in this section that mentioned FARC is some 16 days old and I don't know what Mods will think about thread-resurrection after that much time has passed. My English isn't perfect either, so excuse me for that too.

A local community leader of the opposition party coalition Alternative Democratic Pole (PDA)*** was killed by FARC in September 2006 in the region of Catatumbo, Norte de Santander. In that same region, another such leader was killed by FARC in July 2005. These two acts were publicly denounced in an October 2006 press release.

My source for this is the party's webpage (En Español):

http://www.polodemocratico.net/article.php3?id_article=1713

As a Colombian, I know very well that FARC has only killed a relatively small number of people from the left throughout its history, especially when you compare that with the high numbers massacred by paramilitaries, military forces, multinationals and drug lords. In fact, if I were to post all past and present killings by rightist reactionary forces, then this forum could be easily flooded with new threads.

However, that situation is largely known, and is recognized and condemned by the national and international left. FARC violence against people from the left or who are simply in opposition to the government, on the other hand, is comparatively ignored, especially outside of Colombia. Some condemn FARC's methods in general, but are not aware of this specific kind of violence. So I'm using these two incidents to illustrate that.

Perhaps this is only the work of individual FARC fighters or commanders, that can't be confirmed or denied right now, but that doesn't make it any less worthy of criticism and rejection.

These incidents are not part of a "media manipulation" campaign by the government. The mainstream national press in Colombia has been largely silent about this, and as far as I've checked only the Alternative Democratic Pole itself has denounced it online.

***A wide coalition of different leftwing parties and others opposed to the current rightwing government of Colombia and in general to the situation of gross capitalist exploitation that lies behind many of the country's problems. The groups that make up the PDA include the Communist Party, indigenous organizations, former members of the M-19 guerrilla, survivors of the massacred Patriotic Union, the MOIR, student movements and other groups and parties that I won't try to list for the sake of brevity.

[Red Flag]

I don't trust it, especially coming from a bourgeois party. See: Colombian military sets deadly car bomb, blames FARC revolutionaries (http://www.freepeoplesmovement.org/fpm/page.php?177)

[izquierda80]

Originally posted by Red [email protected] 17 2006, 03:33 AM
I don't trust it, especially coming from a bourgeois party. See: Colombian military sets deadly car bomb, blames FARC revolutionaries (http://www.freepeoplesmovement.org/fpm/page.php?177)
Red Flag: I am already aware about the information contained in the link that you have posted, thank you, and I also took the time to look at the threads here and elsewhere before I began posting.

But this is a significantly different case. These murders were not allegedly "discovered" and denounced by the Colombian military or by the government, but by the party and the local community organizations that support it in the area. They weren't even showcased by the mainstream Colombian media, so I don't see your point. These cases couldn't be more different.

And while there are certainly "bourgeois" in the Alternative Democratic Pole, there are both socially progressive and truly revolutionary people in it, as well as true proletariats, trade union members, student unionists, workers, indigenous people and many others. When the party called for protests against the government and the free trade agreement, they all participated. When the party ran for elections, all those sectors supported it. It's a coalition of many different groups and parties, some of which may be more bourgeois than others, but I don't see any reason to malign them by association, merely due to that.

Besides, the murdered persons weren't just individuals that belonged to this party and nothing else, as if that were reason enough for doubting the information, but also peasant community leaders from the "Comité de Integración Social del Catatumbo" (CISCA) and as such they had participated in acts of resistance and protest against the Colombian government and the U.S. for atrocities committed not just by FARC but, most of the time, by military officers and paramilitaries.

This can be quickly confirmed by looking at the kind of work that the CISCA has done and the communiques that it has signed, together with other social and political organizations:

http://www.prensarural.org/nororiente20051028.htm
http://www.dhcolombia.info/article.php3?id_article=159
http://colombia.indymedia.org/news/2006/10/49989.php
http://www.viacampesina.org/main_sp/index....d=193&Itemid=27 (http://www.viacampesina.org/main_sp/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=193&Itemid=27)

And by the way, I have found another source for the first of the two murders, a communique from such non-mainstream and non-reactionary sources such as:

Asociación MINGA
Coordinador Nacional Agrario, CNA
Corporación Sembrar
Red Europea de Hermandad y Solidaridad con Colombia, REDHER

They blame the FARC for the murder of JOSÉ TRINIDAD TORRES in an August 2005 communique (he was the first of the two, and his murder was originally blamed on the paramilitaries, as one would logically tend to do, but they later found out that it was FARC, without any government interference in the case ):

http://www.redcolombia.org/regiones/catatu...ino/centro1.htm (http://www.redcolombia.org/regiones/catatumbo/trino/centro1.htm)

So I see no reason for this to be an outright lie, or for this information to be considered "suspect" just because there are some progressive burgeois in the party and not every single person there needs to be an armed revolutionary (a condition which does not guarantee perfection either, though it is a legitimate form of resistance).

[*PRC*Kensei]

probably it was something personal between that left guy and a farc officer. their al humans in the end. and if one has a gun & the other doesnt...

isnt this a possibility ?

[metalero]

Despite FARC authoritarism, killing a peasant community leader woudn't help tactical nor military aims of the Insurgency. I suspect it was a personal motive from one of FARC member to commit this crime, which only contributes to discredit the legitimate struggle against state terrorism. I strongly condemn this act, however, It wasn't a military operation planned by FARC as an organization. Perhaps it was a mistake, as it happened to the three American indigenous rights activists killed some years ago.

[Spirit of Spartacus]

Well, I don't mean to imply anything, but here's my question:

What if this guy was an opportunist/traitor?

[*PRC*Kensei]

Originally posted by Spirit of [email protected] 18 2006, 09:42 AM
Well, I don't mean to imply anything, but here's my question:

What if this guy was an opportunist/traitor?
exactly.

however it's very dangerous to call people traitors.. ( *KUCH --> points at stalin *KUCH*) and act apon that.

[zein al-abdeen]

red salut.........
commrades, I just wanted to say hello< and another thing that you aonna have to excuse me alot cause my english isn&#39;t very good, anyway just wanted to say hello.
thanks alot.

*PRC*Kensei:
probably it was something personal between that left guy and a farc officer. their al humans in the end. and if one has a gun & the other doesnt...
isnt this a possibility ?
commrade ..I agree with you.

[izquierda80]

Originally posted by [email protected] 18 2006, 08:19 AM
Despite FARC authoritarism, killing a peasant community leader woudn&#39;t help tactical nor military aims of the Insurgency. I suspect it was a personal motive from one of FARC member to commit this crime, which only contributes to discredit the legitimate struggle against state terrorism. I strongly condemn this act, however, It wasn&#39;t a military operation planned by FARC as an organization. Perhaps it was a mistake, as it happened to the three American indigenous rights activists killed some years ago.
metalero: I&#39;m not arguing otherwise, necessarily. But while it is alright to consider that possibility, IMHO nobody in this forum, including myself for that matter, is able to confirm exactly what was the reasoning behind these murders, whether it was premeditated or not, personally motivated or not, seen as militarily useful or not. Those details are unavailable and thus the act can&#39;t easily be dismissed.

Calling the murdered people "traitors" is also extremely especulative and subjective, albeit possible. But why couldn&#39;t, from another point of view, the FARC personnel involved in these murders be the "traitors"? For all we know, that&#39;s just as valid, hypothetically speaking.

Not all of FARC&#39;s actions have direct tactical and military uses, as they are not perfect beings incapable of mistakes and misguided acts, both small and large.

The only thing that seems clear, at least until now, is that the murder itself occured and that the FARC has been blamed for it by non-government, non-mainstream media and non-reactionary forces. And that this isn&#39;t the first nor the last time that such things have occured.

The FARC may not have ordered this murder on a national level, it is possible, but it could have been a local decision, whether or not it was a formal order. Again, we simply don&#39;t know the details.

All I&#39;m doing is explicitly pointing out this act, nothing more. Why it occured escapes me.

As for the murder of three American indigenous rights activists, that&#39;s a slightly different ballgame, but still condemnable, given the actual result and the consequences of it.

[RedKnight]

http://web.greens.org/ingrid/ingrid_background.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingrid_BetancourtFARC also has kidnapped people.

[Tekun]

Originally posted by [email protected] 24, 2006 04:18 am
http://web.greens.org/ingrid/ingrid_background.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingrid_BetancourtFARC also has kidnapped people.
Yeah, bourgeois politicians and the soldiers they hire to fight the FARC

Nevertheless, this case must be investigated and cleared up
Im sure the FARC had a reason to kill these guys, they&#39;re not gonna just take some unknown and innocent person and kill them in cold blood
They did something, and all will be revealed in time

[metalero]

Finally FARC made a clear statement about the incidents in the region at their website (http://www.farcep.org/?node=2,2423,1) (in spanish), I roughly translated it for you guys.

Press release from FARC 33th front

Due to the preoccupation about the situation in the Catatumbo region, which was expressed in many press releseases from the national direction of Democratic Alternative Pole -PDA (leftist legal coalition), where we are accused of preventing the reconstruction of the communtiy social tissue, we want to express the following:

1. FARC-EP as a political military organization arisen from the heat of the popular struggle has been next to the people of Norte de Santander for more than 25 years in their hard resistance to the aggressions of the ruling class allied with the transnationals who have always tried to destroy any seed of popular organization struggling for the most needed vidications of the population, and particularly have tried to destroy the resistance to the pillage of great natural resources that exist here.

2. That&#39;s how in that long and painful road, It begins in 1998 a big organizational movement regionwide, holding on the legacy of the century old struggle of the Bari people, fed up with the blood of hundreds of peasants and workers murdered and tortured in many battles, bringing on the memory of the huge list of dissapeared and leaving aside the apostates, opportunists and traitors.

3. Thus we get to the big jorney of the struggle that reached its peak in 2 huge demonstrations and marchs to the city of Cucuta, forcing the government at the time in the head of Andres Pastrana to install a negotiation table to reach an agreement that would contain the most needed vindications of the Catatumbo communitiy, being one of them the Substituton of Illegal Crops based on alternative plans.

4. After signing the agreements and having the peasants returned to their native places, the ruling class began to activate every tool at reach, not precisely to follow the agreed, but rather to deactivate this process of unity that put at risk their privileges and make them look bad before their US masters. One of the steps taken by them was publishing in La Opinion newspaper from Norte de Santander, on the may 16/1999 edition, the article titled "Guerrillas, Narcos, Paramilitaries, Kidnappers and common delinquents have us agaisnt the wall" based of reports by local authorities in the head of Governor Jorge Garcia Herreros.
Through a careful analysis of its content we find It&#39;s faithful application about what&#39;s being taught in the psicological operations guide, edited by the pentagon as an instruction book for the Colombian army. In other words, the perfect psicological environment was created so the Colombian society accept what would come in a few days.

5. It&#39;s May 29, 1999, when a small group of FARC-EP guerrilla fighters gave the "welcome" to 600 Paramilitaries sent by the ruling class, just 4 Kilometers away from an Army battallion placed in Tibu, and 3 Kmts from an Oil refinery Police Command, preventing them from reaching their initial objetive of getting direct to La Gabarra to massacre the defenseless population. Many combats happened since then, kilometer by kilometer up to 5 days when the 5th army brigade was forced to intervene with troops, bombings and fireshots in order to open the road for their paramilitary force to the small town Betas Central. What follows from there is well known by its inhabitants.

6. Unfortunataley a big part of the leaders didn&#39;t take the preventive measures and were murdered, others were conviced by NGOs to go in exile and thus were neutralized, and some others were terrified by the images they had to see. The popular movement in Catatumbo was almost dead. But in the heat of the popular resistence, new leaders arose taking up the legacy of those murdered on the road.

7. In our revolutionary activity we are not free of making mistakes, and we are willing to listen to constructive critics. But we sincerely recommend to our comrades at the national direction of PDA to rely on direct sources for information. We are willing to give proofs to everyone sincerely interested, that show we had nothing to do regarding the murder of Jose Trinidad Torres

8. Regarding the case of Juan Daniel Guerra, we propose to you to investigate relying on local sources the candidate he supported for Mayor of town, the candidate he supported for President and the role hes was playing inside the process of reconstructing the community social tissue.

9. We are willing to get together with those designated by PDA National Direction in order to make clear any incident. We remain loyal to our main goal, despite the great ideological, military and political offensive against us that sometimes misinform.

10. By principle, we can&#39;t respect a ruling class that during all these years have sinned by omission or conviction supporting the so called "Democratic security" politics, that have only caused misery and desolation in Catatumbo. That also includes Mayors and councilmans that in the state security councils act as informers and only ask for more military actions.

33th Front General Staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia FARC-EP

Mountains of Norte de Santander, november 10, 2006

[OneBrickOneVoice]

What is with all the anti-FARC-EP sentiment? They are revolutionaries fighting an oppressive government. Revolutions are violent. Sorry but its&#39; as simple as that. FARC should have our solidarity.

[Vargha Poralli]

LeftyHenry Posted on Today at 07:23 am
What is with all the anti-FARC-EP sentiment? They are revolutionaries fighting an oppressive government. Revolutions are violent. Sorry but its&#39; as simple as that. FARC should have our solidarity.

I second LeftyHenry&#39;s Opinion

[chimx]

farc are drug dealers.

[bcbm]

Originally posted by [email protected] 20, 2006 12:55 am
farc are drug dealers.
They tax the drugs that peasants grow in the areas they control.

And even if they were drug dealers, I&#39;d say they are a better alternative than the government supported cartels or the CIA.

[chebol]

izquierda80 wrote:


I&#39;m not arguing otherwise, necessarily. But while it is alright to consider that possibility, IMHO nobody in this forum, including myself for that matter, is able to confirm exactly what was the reasoning behind these murders, whether it was premeditated or not, personally motivated or not, seen as militarily useful or not. Those details are unavailable and thus the act can&#39;t easily be dismissed.

Consider metalero&#39;s post of the FARC-EP&#39;s reasoning confirmed. The FARC-EP have faults, but the approach of too much of the naiive western left (and a small part of the Colombian left) is simply awful liberal moralising.

The FARC-EP&#39;s policy is against drug trafficking. That some individuals are involved may unfortunately be true, but is under constant threat of discipline, and expulsion (and worse). The taxation issue is not of drugs, per se, but of the coca leaf production, and it&#39;s transportation out of FARC-EP supporting territories.

This entire incident needs to be viewed in light of "Plan Patriota" - the hyper-militarist &#39;solution&#39; that the US and Uribe are trying (unsuccessfully) to use to break the back of the popular restistance. It involves, amongst other things, a large amount of military adventurism into territories that have been undergoing stable and fruitful economic and social development under FARC-EP protection. As some of the limitations of this alternative development have become manifest, some individuals and groups have plotted a course with the Colombian government, others are in favour of autonomous development and co-operatives, others again have a number of different &#39;strategies&#39; forward. Most of these are compatible with FARC-EP policy, but those that work with Uribe and military are both few and contemptible. However, they do pose a serious threat to the security of the liberated zone which constitutes nearly half of the country.