Bloodlessly Perfect

4 July 2008



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Colombia Tricks FARC into Releasing Hostages

The Colombian government dealt the drug dealing gangsters of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia [FARC] a big blow yesterday when it tricked the alleged revolutionaries into handing over some high profile captives. Not a shot was fired in the rescue of Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, three American contractors and 11 members of the Colombian security forces. This is proof positive that guile beats force every time. And the rebels are now well and truly FARCed.

The key to the operation was the infiltration of the FARC’s command structure. While the details will remain sketchy for years, Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos did say that a Colombian army helicopter flew into a FARC camp. The FARC leader in charge of the hostages (called “Cesar”) had been told by a double agent that the chopper belonged to a non-governmental organization that would fly the captives to another camp to meet with rebel leader Alfonso Cano. Once the hostages were on board, Cesar and one other FARC member got on the helicopter, were quickly overpowered and will now face trial.

FARC is in deep trouble now. In March, Colombian forces raided a rebel camp in Ecuador and killed FARC commander Raul Reyes. A week after that, a man with the nom de guerre of Ivan Rios was murdered by one of his bodyguards, who collected the bounty offered by the government. The founder of FARC, Manuel Marulanda, died of a heart attack that same month at the age of 78. This latest episode will have FARC’s leaders pointing fingers, and distrust will spread throughout the organization.

FARC has been trying to overthrow the Colombian government for about 40 years, and the only thing less successful in Latin America has been the US embargo on Cuba. Its numbers have dwindled from 17,000 with the ability to mount urban offensives to an estimated 9,000 forced to play defense in the jungle. They continue to hold about 40 high profile captives and a total of 700-800 others, but this loss makes them look like complete idiots in the eyes of Colombians.

The Colombian government is waving a small olive branch to FARC at this stage. Armed forces chief Freddy Padilla told Caracol Radio Thursday that he left 58 guerrillas alive as a goodwill gesture, “If I had given the order to fire on them they would almost certainly all have been killed.” The Associated Press said, “President Alvaro Uribe, in a celebratory news conference flanked by the freed Colombian hostages, said he isn’t interested in ‘spilling blood’ and that he wants the FARC to know he seeks ‘a path to peace, total peace’.” One wishes all Colombians good luck with that.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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