FARC leader calls for all-out offensive in Colombia

juancegomez says on Jan 5, 2008, 07:00:

This actually happened before the whole Emmanuel deal, in case someone forgets to check the dates.

As for this guy's words...this is probably part bluff, part reality. How much of each, of course, one cannot say...for now.

I wouldn't be surprised if FARC activity increases after this, but the actual political, military or strategic effects of such activity is what matters.

Also, "Marulanda" does admit that "Negro Acacio" and "Martin Caballero", among others, are dead, for those who still wondered about it.

Here's the full "salute", for those interested (not worth translating, IMHO, but there you go...):

------------------------------------------
Saludo de Manuel Marulanda Vélez Comandante en jefe de las FARC

Diciembre 24 de 2007

Camaradas Secretariado, Miembros del Estado Mayor Central, Estados Mayores de Bloques, de Frentes, Mandos, Movimiento Bolivariano por la Nueva Colombia, Redes Urbanas, Partido Comunista Clandestino, Guerrilleros, Guerrilleras y pueblo organizado en defensa de los intereses de Colombia.

Reciban un cordial saludo revolucionario y navideño deseándoles muchos éxitos en la lucha por el poder y a la vez para expresarles lo siguiente:

Al balancear las acciones político-militares de 2007 y comienzos del 2008 deseo los resultados sean de gran satisfacción para el colectivo fariano y masas en esta fecha histórica, donde antes la familia colombiana celebraba la navidad unida, mirando hacia al futuro. Hoy está fraccionada, guerrilleros en la selva, otros desplazados, otros exiliados y otros perseguidos por la violencia del Estado apoyado en las Fuerzas Armadas en cabeza de Altos Mandos Militares comprometidos con el paramilitarismo, sembrando el terror en todo el país, impidiendo la oportunidad de intercambiar opiniones alrededor de la defensa de sus intereses.

Los ricos festejan los aciertos de sus gobernantes en defensa del gran capital nacional y extranjero y trazan nueva estrategia política y militar para seguir gobernando y explotando inmisericordemente los asalariados apoyados en los instrumentos del Estado de terror y violencia para impedir cambios progresistas y democráticos en la construcción de un Nuevo Gobierno elegido legalmente por el pueblo, sin fraude electoral y sin paramilitarismo.

Los pobres en medio de la angustia por la carencia económica, desempleo, vivienda, salud y violencia, lamentan la incapacidad y el desinterés de sus gobernantes para solucionar las principales necesidades y mejorar las condiciones de vida acorde con la realidad por la que atraviesa el país, donde no hay plata sino para sostener la guerra y el Parlamento, vinculados a la para-política, menos para resolver las necesidades de los colombianos; no quedando al pueblo otro camino que luchar sin distingos políticos junto a las organizaciones populares de masas para lograr cambios fundamentales socio-políticos, con el aporte político-militar de FARC para luchar en medio de circunstancias favorables o desfavorables en contra del enemigo de clase, dirigido por la oligarquía en cabeza del Presidente Uribe y algunos del generalato paramilitar, apoyado por los Estados Unidos, intervención que debemos rechazar en todos los escenarios públicos y privados.

Poniendo especial énfasis en la necesidad de motivar las masas a luchar por lograr el Intercambio Humanitario para evitar que guerrilleros mueran en las cárceles sindicados de narcoterroristas y otros en la selva. Teniendo en cuenta que si el Presidente Uribe hubiera despejado Florida y Pradera el problema había sido resuelto años atrás y con esto nada había perdido y todos habríamos ganado.

Las elecciones realizadas el 12 de octubre de 2007 para elegir alcaldes, concejales, diputados y gobernadores, la mayoría están untados de fraude electoral, soborno y para política, quedando establecido cómo debemos actuar frente a las diferentes corrientes políticas representadas en el uribismo, Partido Liberal, el Polo Alternativo y los independientes, identificados unos y otros, para no equivocarnos en nuestras apreciaciones políticas y accionar revolucionario contra el enemigo común como lo establecen las conclusiones de los Organismos Superiores.

El comunicado de FARC fijando nuestra posición frente al ofrecimiento del Gobierno de un territorio selvático para hablar del Intercambio, al final se convirtió en una bomba de tiempo que ha logrado traspasar las fronteras, lo cual ha permitido un mayor apoyo internacional al Intercambio Humanitario; colocando a Uribe en una posición incómoda, porque ha sido imposible impedir el protagonismo de FARC y muy pronto, hasta el reconocimiento de unos pocos Gobiernos como movimiento revolucionario alzado en armas contra el régimen uribista que no quiere la paz para Colombia, a tiempo que hay manifestaciones casi en todo el país para que los gobernantes busquen una salida política al conflicto social y armado con la insurgencia de FARC.

Creo indispensable desenmascarar la patraña uribista dando cuenta por los medios de comunicación hablados y escritos de los éxitos obtenidos por su Gobierno contra FARC, donde asegura haber dado de baja 8 mil guerrilleros y haber desmantelado 20 frentes. Habrá que indagar de dónde el Generalato, el Presidente y el Comisionado tomaron la estadística tan precisa. Estas informaciones tienen la finalidad de distraer la opinión pública con datos adulterados en defensa de la “seguridad democrática� para seguir pidiendo apoyo económico y militar a los Estados Unidos con el pretexto de combatir el terrorismo y el narcotráfico. Los triunfos militares del Gobierno contra FARC, a través de revistas, periódicos y radio son para ocultar el real fracaso del “Plan Patriota� y de paso engañar a la opinión. Así como han afirmado que toda movilización de masas ha sido en respaldo a la “seguridad democrática� y del “no al despeje� de Florida y Pradera para el Acuerdo Humanitario. Sin querer decir que la confrontación no tiene un alto costo en heridos y muertos, como lo señala la revista Poder, en su artículo GERENCIA PARA LA GUERRA.

La mejor navidad para FARC en sus balances, sin duda debe reflejarse en un alto grado de crecimiento en hombres y organización de masas en campos y ciudades, para lo cual es necesario utilizar las diversas formas de acción, movilizaciones con objetivos muy concretos, demandas al Estado por la paz, defensa de los derechos humanos, paros cívicos, denuncias de masacres y atropellos oficiales ante organismos competentes nacionales e internacionales etc.; para ello los cuadros farianos están obligados a conducir las organizaciones de masas bajo su dirección en la lucha por sus reales reivindicaciones políticas, económicas, sociales y por la soberanía, que son tan indispensables como las acciones armadas de FARC en carreteras, veredas, selva, centros urbanos, caseríos, cuarteles, sin dar tregua al enemigo, tal como ellos tienen diseñada su estrategia permanente contra nosotros con el fin de prolongar el proceso revolucionario en Colombia, porque quiérase o no el triunfo político y armado son parte de la lucha que libra el pueblo en defensa sus intereses de clase.

La Escuela de 5 años enfrentando el Plan Patriota ha sido suficiente para los mandos y guerrilleros farianos lograr aprender del enemigo cómo y de qué manera actúan en los desplazamientos y operativos con sus aviones de reconocimiento, bombarderos, helicópteros, globos, satélites, día y noche; agentes de inteligencia, infiltrados, cooperantes, bloqueos económicos a la población civil, de tal manera que ello también nos permite planear grandes acciones a tropas en movimiento internadas en la selva, carreteras o veredas sin mucha protección inmediata.

Es conveniente aprovechar la crisis general por la que atraviesa el Gobierno y el cansancio reflejado en algunas unidades militares para comenzar a preparar las condiciones para organizar una ofensiva general.

Para ver los mandos militares como le van a responder al Presidente Uribe, cuando afirma tener derrotada la guerrilla sin recursos, enfermos y alimentándose de raíces.

Los “inamovibles� del Presidente Uribe son unos de los tantos pretextos en cabeza de algunos generales para impedir el Intercambio Humanitario y mantener la guerra contra el descontento del pueblo por las pésimas condiciones de vida a que está sometido. Teniendo en cuenta que todas las constituciones y leyes de cualquier país son modificables de acuerdo a las circunstancias del momento por el que atraviese con base en realidades políticas, económicas, sociales, culturales y de soberanía. Los gobernantes están obligados a permitir cambios en favor de los gobernados, quienes los han elegido, de lo contrario el pueblo es quien tiene que producir los cambios planteados en la Plataforma y el Manifiesto de FARC junto con otras, por encima de los caprichos del Parlamento y del Gobierno, quienes a su vez se niegan a aceptar las realidades por la que atraviesa Colombia en medio de movilizaciones de masas y de corrientes políticas con cierto grado de organización y conciencia, con propuestas para logar la paz, encontrando el impedimento de los “inamovibles� por los cuales el Gobierno está luchando contra la corriente utilizando la Fuerza Pública para tal fin, sin resultados a la vista para la opinión.

Finalmente no podemos pasar esta navidad sin antes recordar todos los camaradas muertos por acción del enemigo, Acacio, Martin Caballero, junto a otros en la lucha contra el sistema opresor de Uribe y al mismo tiempo, mis más sentidos pésames y condolencias a familiares y amigos en homenaje a quienes han ofrendado su vida en honor a la causa revolucionaria del pueblo.

No siendo otro el motivo de la presente mis agradecimientos por amor a la causa. Hasta el triunfo. Fuerte apretón de manos.

Por el Secretariado,

MANUEL MARULANDA VÉLEZ
http://www.abpnoticias.com/boletin_temporal/contenido/articulos/colomb...

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tasco66 says on Jan 5, 2008, 07:08:

This happened before we learned that the farc did not have Emmanuel, but they obviously knew this at the time….

Bravo, Presidente Uribe for the perfect operation!

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john_stark says on Jan 5, 2008, 07:48:

I hope they do launch an effective and widespread offensive to scare the gringos out of Colombia.

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toneloc24 says on Jan 5, 2008, 08:33:

JS - Back to the days when you were an anamoly in Belen. LOL!!!

"Don't tase me, bro!!!!"

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robi666 says on Jan 5, 2008, 09:18:

A FARC widespread offensive and then we could have a new Sal and Jorge putting things in the right perspective again...

"I am a citizen of the most beautiful nation on earth. A nation whose laws are harsh yet simple, a nation that never cheats, which is immense and without borders, where life is lived in the present."

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Mr. Hollywood says on Jan 5, 2008, 10:20:

I'm sorry but after this latest episode I'm starting to think that the FARC are a lot more like Pol Pot than they are like Fidel Castro.

Totally self-deluded.

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athensugadawg says on Jan 5, 2008, 10:24:

Cambodia, Colombia....hmmmm....

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goin_south says on Jan 5, 2008, 11:24:

what happened to the 'Nuke Em All' attitude, j_s... from a week ago, in regards to the Farc and their held prisoners?

You're doin the two-step-texas-pecan waffling ;)

Where do we go from here?

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goin_south says on Jan 5, 2008, 11:31:

BUT, after watching that video of Chavez and Stone... lets make sure both of them are included

Where do we go from here?

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john_stark says on Jan 5, 2008, 12:25:

I still believe that we should nuke 'em all. OTOH the levels of violence that Colombia has seen in the past would do a lot to clean up the place and drive out the gringos who have no business being there. Which is to say, 98% of them.

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ColombianoGringo says on Jan 5, 2008, 12:33:

I still say Colombia needs a death penalty to deal with these assholes. The army just isn't as efficient with the extra judicial executions of guerrilleros these days.

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tasco66 says on Jan 5, 2008, 13:13:

The farc and Chavez have formed an alliance against Uribe and the Colombian democracy:

FARC's British Puppet-Masters Want Regime Change, or War, in Colombia

Jan. 3 (EIRNS)—In the wake of the hostage-release fiasco which Hugo Chavez and his British puppet-masters orchestrated over New Year's, this crowd is now openly pushing for regime change in Colombia, to oust President Uribe Velez and plunge the entire region into chaos.

There are several events that make this clear.

Venezuela's Bolivarian News Agency (ABN) today published a Dec. 24 letter by FARC leader Manuel Marulanda (aka "Tirofijo") in which he blamed the Colombian military for the failure of the hostage-release operation, and boasted that Uribe had been unable to stop the FARC's "protagonism"—its active public role in the country. He then confidently warned that soon, Uribe would have an even harder time preventing "certain governments" from recognizing the FARC as a legitimate belligerant force.

The Colombian narco-terrorists have long sought such "belligerant status" from international bodies. Were this to be granted now, even by individual governments, it would confer legitimacy on the group, and effectively set up a situation of dual power in the country. The FARC justifies this demand by asserting, as it does in a Dec. 18 release, that the Uribe government itself is illegitimate and corrupt, answering only to the "Empire" and sustained by drug-linked paramilitary forces.

It would appear that Venezuela and Nicaragua are lining up to grant the FARC the status it seeks. Chavez agrees with Marulanda's characterization of Uribe as a U.S. toady, and on Dec. 18, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega chimed in, charging that Colombia is now a country fully occupied by U.S. troops, and acts as a "neo-imperialist." The FARC's Marulanda, he said, is "my brother."

From Bogota, EIR's bureau chief Max Londono warned that all of these elements add up to a very dangerous situation, in which war between Colombia and Venezuela is not to be ruled out. In such a conflict, he said, it would be Chavez and the FARC lined up against Uribe.

Bravo, Presidente Uribe for the perfect operation!

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tasco66 says on Jan 5, 2008, 13:29:

Like the US government with "the war on terror"?

Bravo, Presidente Uribe for the perfect operation!

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dwr says on Jan 5, 2008, 14:16:

Let us not forget what this is all really about. Billions of dollars in revenue from the drug trade. Legalize drugs and trudging around the jungle is suddenly not so attractive a proposition.

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dwr says on Jan 5, 2008, 14:16:

Go Seahawks

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goin_south says on Jan 5, 2008, 14:50:

and, Jaguars;
Gotta love a team with a name/mascot of the Cats, eh Hg? Catgirl?

Where do we go from here?

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bamacellist says on Jan 5, 2008, 14:58:

dwr - As a libertarian I understand this argument pretty well, but I don't believe legalization would have the hoped for effect in this case. The profit isn't high because of illegality and because all aspects of production and marketing are already well established the profits could only be reduced by new competition. Looking at the amount of money involved and the extremes to which people are currently going in order to maintain or assert their control over this money, it seems unlikely that competition will flourish as it might in most any other endeavor.

"The future is much like the present, only longer."

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wendell13 says on Jan 5, 2008, 15:20:

Good points but I also agree that it should be legalized. Just think of all the billions of dollars that are wasted en enforcement

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dwr says on Jan 5, 2008, 15:28:

You don't think that if the major consuming countries of the world, primarily USA, legalized cocaine and heroine that the price wouldn't drop and that as a consequence Las FARC would be without a major source of income?

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bamacellist says on Jan 5, 2008, 15:35:

Wendell13 - :) I don't disagree with legalization and your point is an important consideration in favor, but given the amount of money involved, the unintended consequences are pretty well unimaginable. It would take stronger stomachs than most politicians have in order to accept responsibility for them.

"The future is much like the present, only longer."

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bamacellist says on Jan 5, 2008, 16:00:

No, it would surprise me if prices fell much since they don't really need to. The market has established what people are willing to pay at every level of the chain and I suspect efforts to undercut someone to take his share of business could be risky. Just my opinion :)

"The future is much like the present, only longer."

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john_stark says on Jan 5, 2008, 16:34:

Ortega. We need to take that fucker out once and for all. One bullet. One problem solved.

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dwr says on Jan 5, 2008, 17:13:

Look at Colombia where personal consumption is legal. The price of the product is very cheap. If it was legal in the USA, the upcharge would be freight, tax and distribution. Can't imagine the street price would maintain at 100 dollars a gram in the USA. This is the money that filters back to the Farc and gives them the power to buy weapons, politicians, military and a "revolutionary" army. Cut off the cash and they are are significantly reduced as an insurgency.

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juancegomez says on Jan 5, 2008, 17:30:

GiB: We only became the number one producer of crap circa the mid-1990's, actually, to be technically correct...and do you really think the U.S. would have allowed us to try doing that back when old Reagan and old Bush were in charge without embargoing us or worse? Several politicians in the U.S. campaigned on being "tough on drugs", after all.

Even now I wouldn't really count on it, and a legalization only affecting Colombia (or whatever other producing country takes over when, say, we are nuked off the face of the planet or what have you) would not have much of an effect, unless it's also legal to buy it outside of the country.

Colombia could, however, push this issue in a far more aggressive manner, but something tells me that even our local politicians don't like the idea, whether out of interest, hypocrisy or old fashioned morality (or all of the above, if you want). Sooner or later, however, I do expect things will change, whether here or outside.

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juancegomez says on Jan 5, 2008, 17:38:

GiB: Morales isn't legalizing the export of drugs such as cocaine to other nations, they aren't the biggest coca producing country at this point in time, and you are forgetting that Bolivia has a big indigenous population that actually uses plain old coca as part of its tradition.

That never exactly stopped and it wasn't completely illegal before either (some coca could always be legally grown), Morales didn't pull anything out of a hat, he just made things easier for them and put a halt to forced eradication campaigns.

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juancegomez says on Jan 5, 2008, 17:52:

He's not legalizing the production or processing of cocaine.

I'd actually like us to legalize the production of coca per se, if that's what you want, though we already do allow our much smaller indigenous communities to do so and so it's harder to approach the issue.

The problem is that most coca growers here aren't indigenous, and most coca plants aren't really useful as international commodities until someone processes them and distributes the final product, most of which already happened via Colombia even when we didn't yet plant the crops ourselves that much. It's not like this is news.

Even if coca were fully legal...it's not going to be easy to legalize the production of cocaine itself, however...and I'm sure that the current EU, UN and obviously the U.S. would slap embargoes and sanctions on whoever does that (there are treaties and conventions about it), especially if it's whoever is the biggest producer. Not even Chávez has the balls to do such a thing, even when a lot of cocaine flies through his skies and goes through his roads .

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bamacellist says on Jan 5, 2008, 20:39:

I propose that coke is so much cheaper in Colombia for two reasons, neither of which is that it is legal to possess some amount. I suggest it's cheap because it has to be in order to support a market and because the networks that distribute it are different and have different expectations. Legalizing production, distribution and use won't change either of those factors anywhere, except perhaps very very slowly, or without a lot of violent upheaval.

"The future is much like the present, only longer."

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Mr. Hollywood says on Jan 5, 2008, 20:41:

It's cheap in Colombia because it doesn't have to be smuggled anywhere, so the supply is huge, the demand is moderate, and the risks are low.

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RussianFred says on Jan 6, 2008, 10:26:

" Cut off the cash and they are are significantly reduced as an insurgency."
Never, Never, Never! Too much cash, the only answer is to make it legal and have the governments control production and consumption.

Annual Drug Deaths: Tobacco: 395,000, Alcohol: 125,000, 'Legal' Drugs: 38,000, Illegal Drug Overdoses: 5,200, Marijuana: 0. Considering government subsidies of tobacco, just what is our government protecting us from in the drug war?--Ralph Nader

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