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Post by pabs on Jun 21, 2002 14:48:23 GMT -5
I wish I could translate the entire news article I just read, but I'll try and condense it for you guys.
Last may, we elected a new President, mr Alvaro Uribe. He is a member of Colombia's liberal party but ran as an independent candidate and won the elections by a landslide pretty much. The guy is very well educated and has a lot of political experience. He seems to be a fair dude with a will of iron, which contrasts with our current president who is a pansy.
One of Uribe's strongest points is that he vowed to have a strong government (or a government of authority as he puts it). In plain english, this means he's willing, and more than likely will, fight the guerrillas head on. He's right now here in the US looking for support in the fight against them and I understand he's had interviews with all the top dudes (Rumesfeld, Bush, Powell, Condolezza Rice, and some congressmen and senators). Well, apparently, the FARC are very pissed off that we elected this guy so they have threatened every elected official in a big area of the country. Now, all the officials are quitting their positions because they are afraid, even though the Army has doubled and tripled their presence in those areas.
So this is in fact the end of democracy if I have ever seen one. First of all, they knew what they were getting into. Why the hell did they want to run for office then if they were going to quit at the first sight of trouble? Besides, someone has to step up and take a strong stance. People look up to elected officials because supposedly they are answering to a higher calling to serve the community. This is definitely not the kind of example they should be setting. And second, by quitting, they are only making the FARC stronger. They are giving them power. So how can we expect to fight these terrorist bastards if nobody is willing to fight? I thought we were supposed to be against them, not implicitly FOR them.
God, I am so pissed at the lack of duty of these idiots. Running is not the answer you pussies!
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Post by Wycco on Jun 21, 2002 15:16:24 GMT -5
Pabs, I couldn't agree more.
Hopefully though if this New President IS going to take a tough stance he can beat the FARCers once and for all.
THEN you'll have democracy
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Post by Topcontender on Jun 21, 2002 16:36:08 GMT -5
Pabs more than likely the elected officials are in one the scam with the FARC. Possibly they got the job for the perks of running there own scams, but now they got to work they don't want it anymore.
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Post by Srrh on Jun 27, 2002 13:19:15 GMT -5
Oh yea, fighting the FARC by arming one million civilians (that was one of his pledge) is brilliant. Doubling the army's budget in a country that hardly has any money for the "welfare net" is also a great idea. In two years colombia will be ready for complete civil war...Unlce Sam will be watching...and ordinary Colombians will be butchered in even greater number. This new president will solve the problem, no doubt...Sharon style!!!
Srrh
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Post by pabs on Jul 14, 2002 20:12:31 GMT -5
A little update on the situation. Taken from El Tiempo (Colombia's most important newspaper)
FARC clear by force an area larger than the Caguan [the caguan is the safe haven area that the government cleared for them between 98 and earlier this year]
By friday night, 222 mayors had presented their resignation out of 465 in 24 departments [the equivalent of States in the US] because they have been threatened by the guerrillas. 35 towns have no civil or administrative officials, and 160 other towns are led by "remote control"
The area of those 35 towns adds up to about 50 thousand square kilometers, which is 8 thousand more than the safe haven that the government had given them up until January.
The most affected department is Meta where 23,434 square kilometers do not have any state presence. Also, in spite of its closeness to the capital city of Bogota, the department od Cundimarca is the one with the most number of resigning mayors: 30 in total. [Bogota is actually dead-smack in the middle of Cundinamarca but it is not a part of it. It is considered to be an independent district]
In Bolivar (another state) all 45 mayors have beent threatened, but non of them have resigned yet. 6 of them, however, govern by phone from other locations.
The situation tend to worsen because right now there are a total of 160 towns are governed by remote control because their mayors have fled to the department capital or even to the country's capital, Bogota.
There are departments like Arauca and Caqueta where ALL mayors have fled their town, governing by phone.
Srrh, I really would like to hear how you propose to fight the guerrillas.
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Post by Wycco on Jul 16, 2002 7:27:53 GMT -5
What percentage of the population actually approve of the FARCers? (will I get assasinated for calling them FARCers?)
It seems that the only way to get rid of these guys IS to obliterate them. As bad as that sounds- these guys are just dirty- out for personal gain warlords.
I always like to oppose war- but I must say- the only way Colombia will have peace is by soundly defeating the FARCers.
The longer the FARC is allowed to exist the more bloodshed and strife the country will face.
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SrrhagainstViolence
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Post by SrrhagainstViolence on Jul 16, 2002 8:20:29 GMT -5
Srrh, I really would like to hear how you propose to fight the guerrillas. I don't. I never propose fighting as a solution to anything. I propose they (the FARC) don't get politically sodomized so often though. Maybe they'd listen to reason and would open a dialogue if the powers in placed didn't lie and stab them in the back so often!! Either way, it seems clear there allways will be (fringe?) groups in Colombia that will refuse seing the country being treated as the US's whore. Will the powers in place ever manage to kill them all ? Doubtful as the terrain will not allow it... On a completly different subject, did you see "The Virgin and the killer"? Srrh
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Post by Srrhforpeace on Jul 16, 2002 8:40:49 GMT -5
For those wondering...
The leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda has been fighting the state for more than 50 of his 71 years.
He founded the FARC in 1964 and since then has built up his guerrilla army from a handful of cousins and friends, into a fearsome force of some 18,000 fighters that today control almost 40% of the country.
The FARC had much to fight for when they were formed. The political system was restricted to the traditional Liberal and Conservative parties and these were controlled by the country's rich, political elite.
Most of the land was in the hands of the privileged few and the majority of the population lived in poverty.
Well some things have not changed. The gap between rich and poor in Colombia is still among the widest in the world and more than half of the population live in poverty.
But the Colombian and the US Government say the guerrillas have lost their ideology and become nothing more than terrorists and drugs traffickers.
That the guerrillas are involved in drugs is beyond question. It is their main earner, followed by kidnapping and extortion.
Henry Castellanos, Commander of the FARC 53rd Front That they have committed terrorist acts is certain. Earlier this month whilst battling their hated enemies - the right wing paramilitaries - they dropped a bomb on the church of Bojayá in the western province of Chocó.
Terrified townsfolk had taken shelter from the combat in the building. A total of 119 civilians in the church were killed - almost half of them children.
Since the three-year peace process with the FARC broke down in February, the guerrillas have changed tactics.
Before, they would concentrate forces and attack security force bases.
Civilian were often killed in the crossfire, but the military was always the target. That seems to have changed.
In a radio exchange intercepted by the military, Comandante 'Romana' (alias of Henry Castellanos, the feared commander of the powerful FARC 53rd Front) was heard to say: "Bring them all down - bridges, pylons and the dam. Make urban attacks so that the oligarchy feels the war."
The guerrillas want to punish the government for ending the peace process and hurt the political elite.
That means hitting the cities, which has resulted in a move towards "terrorist" tactics, not purely at the security forces, but against the general urban population.
The FARC have blown up some 200 electricity pylons across the country so far this year, attacked water reservoirs that feed Bogotá's seven million inhabitants, and set off bombs in cities.
But perhaps most telling in the debate on whether the FARC are freedom fighters or terrorists is the issue of public support.
There can be little doubt that the guerrillas have lost touch with the people they claim to represent.
In national surveys the FARC never poll more than 5% of public support, and that for all the imperfections in its political system, Colombia is a democracy.
After almost 40 years, it appears the FARC have become rebels without a cause.
from the BBC...
Srrh
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Post by pabs on Jul 16, 2002 11:09:15 GMT -5
Srrh,
I don't think the government stabs them in the back as much as you say (although yes it has happened). Look at the last peace dialogues, back when they had their safe haven. The government of president Pastrana did everything short of handing over the country to them. All they did was demand more and more without ever trying to compromise. THey never had a gesture of good faith, and the government had plenty (like creating the safe haven for them). Those people are not interested in dialogue. They want power. And yes, they have lost touch with the people. If I saw another option, I would support it. I have a military background and as such I know that war should be only the last resort. But I don't see any other options. Pretty much everything else has been tried.
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Post by Srrhisonhollidays on Aug 8, 2002 9:49:48 GMT -5
Boy, oh boy...
At least 15 people have been killed and nearly 40 wounded in explosions in the Colombian capital Bogota, minutes before Alvaro Uribe was sworn in as the country's president. Several of the explosions took place in poor Cartucho district a few streets away from the national parliament where Mr Uribe was receiving his presidential sash.
To Colombians I say: Expect action every day, but not miraculous results In the past six months there have been three attempts on his life, including one which destroyed cars in his motorcade.
If this is any indication of things to come...Brace yourselves for the worst....
Srrh
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Post by pabs on Aug 8, 2002 10:32:26 GMT -5
Indeed, they shot 2 rockets at the Presidential Palace and there were more explosions throughout the city, including one near the Army's Military Academy.
I agree with you Srrh, the worst is still to come...
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Post by Srrhisonhollidays on Aug 12, 2002 13:01:12 GMT -5
Let's see how this turns out...
Keeping his election pledge to beef up Colombia's war effort, President Alvaro Uribe declared a 90-day state of emergency on Monday and said he will make the wealthy pay an assets tax to fight the leftist rebels and far-right militias who control much of the country.
The emergency will also allow the right-winger to pass laws by decree and restrict civil rights -- although the government said it will not do this for now.
"The nation is subject to a regime of terror in which democratic authority is sinking," said the decree, read by Interior Minister Fernando Londono at a midnight news conference after a day-long Sunday cabinet meeting.
Using its powers under the state of emergency, which are valid for 90 days but can be extended, the government intends to raise $780 million by making individuals and companies pay a 1.2 percent tax on assets of over $60,000.
The money will be used to create two new elite mobile brigades, with 3,000 troops, and pay for 10,000 additional police officers and a new network of 100,000 civilian "police auxiliaries." It will also pay for more special prosecutors, judges and human rights officials.
A keen proponent of U.S. military aid directed at the cocaine trade financing the illegal armies, Uribe says he will boost military spending by a third and set up a million-strong network of civilian informers to alert the security forces.
For the moment, Londono said the government would not use emergency powers to restrict civil rights. If it so chose, the government could limit personal movement, impose restrictions on the media, search homes without a warrant and arrest people on suspicion without proof that they have committed a crime.
Tough times indeed...
Srrh
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Post by pabs on Aug 27, 2002 11:38:07 GMT -5
Now that we talk about model airplanes (in the b-day thread) I learned yesterday that the Colombian guerrillas are planning to use RC airplanes (not drones, but RC model airplanes available at your local toys R us) to attack "strategic" targets...that's messed up.
Funnily enough, following graduation from the USAF Academy, I went to Paris, where my dad was defense attache to the Colombian embassy, and helped decide which would be the best UAV (uninhabited air vehicle) for the Colombian Air Force reconassaince needs. I had done some work in UAVs here in the States.
At the end we decided on an israeli-built UAV, but also presented a proposal to use RC airplanes (following the work of one of my profs). They could be either commercially-available and later modified, or designed from scratch for the mission. I don't know what happened with that, but I know it didn't go through. Now it turns out the FARC had the same idea to cause some real damage...the irony of the situation just kills me.
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Post by srrrrrrh on Aug 27, 2002 13:47:43 GMT -5
actually, when you think about it, it is surprising this method of attack is not more widely used. Not especiallly in Colombia, but around the world. Maybe they just couldn't carry something big and lethal enough until recently. You could also use litlle boats for portuary terrorism etc...
Srrh
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Post by pabs on Aug 27, 2002 13:52:38 GMT -5
I agree Srrh. In fact, the concept we were developing was for the RC airplane to be part of an infantry soldier's back pack. They would assemble it in less than 5 minutes and they could use it for near-field reconassaince (like over a hill). And as with any aerospace vehicle, it's a small step to convert anything into a weapon.
Perhaps I should pursue the idea further and start my own company selling these things to the Colombian Army.
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