The Point: Erosion of Colombia's glorified gang

The Point: Erosion of Colombia's glorified gang

By Mark Bowden

Inquirer Currents Columnist

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/columnists/20080406_The_Point__Erosi...

The last time I was in Colombia, seven years ago, the guerrillas in the hills outside Bogotá were setting up roadblocks every night. They would stop motorists and brazenly run computer checks on their bank accounts. Those with enough money were held for ransom. Americans, presumed to be rich, would be kidnapped as a matter of course.

Over the years, the gang responsible for this outrage, the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia), has kidnapped and killed thousands. The Colombian government has made great strides against the FARC, but scores of hostages are still being dragged through the jungles, including three U.S. contractors and the popular Colombian

French politician Ingrid Betancourt, who is reportedly frail and seriously ill after six years of captivity.

The FARC still bills itself as a peasant army, but it has no coherent ideological rationale for its crimes. It is a glorified gang, financed with drug-trafficking and extortion, whose only fans are those wedded to the idea of revolution for its own sake, or those like Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who has his own purposes. The good news for those who believe in democracy and who root for stability and prosperity in Colombia is that the gang may at last be falling apart.

Bombing campaigns and extortion turned the Colombian people against FARC years ago. Weary of endless war, of depredations committed by both pro- and antigovernment forces, then-President Andrés Pastrana tried to ease the rebels into political legitimacy in 1998 by ceding large portions of his country to the gang in a failed effort to spur negotiations. He lost his popularity and presidency in the process. Asked once to explain what these stubborn guerrillas wanted, even the notably empathetic Pastrana was at a loss. He stood up and pointed behind him.

"This chair," he said.

Pastrana's failure brought to power �?lvaro Uribe, now in his second four-year term, who has maintained strong popularity with an avowed policy of crushing the FARC.

He may finally be succeeding. Reports in recent weeks suggest that members, some of them kidnapped as children from remote villages and pressed into service as fighters, have been deserting in droves. One killed his own high-ranking commander last month and as proof delivered to government forces the FARC leader's laptop and his severed hand.

A controversial raid by Colombian forces across the border into Ecuador killed Luis Edgar Devia Silva, alias Raúl Reyes, reputed to be the FARC's number-two man. The raid provoked the ire of Ecuador and Venezuela, but since both neighboring countries have long allowed the gang to camp on their sides of the border, it was hard to summon sustained outrage. The world's oldest "revolutionary" movement finds itself increasingly isolated and vulnerable.

Which does not mean it is no longer dangerous. We tend to think of the war on terror in this country as a campaign against Islamofascists, but terrorism is a tactic, not a movement. It is the last refuge of fringe causes with little hope of success in a free society. No country knows better than Colombia how devastating that tactic can be. It fought a bloody war with narco-terrorists throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, and then saw that struggle morph into grinding civil war.

A cornered FARC is a danger not only to Colombia, but also to all of Latin America and possibly even points north. The governments of Panama and Peru have recently pledged to help combat the gang. Brazil, Argentina and Chile have joined with European nations, the United States, and Canada in labeling it a terror organization.

In the tangle of politics, cocaine, oil, and money that defines this upper region of South America, it is sometimes hard to sort out the good guys from the bad guys, but sometimes you get a scorecard. A computer captured in the Devia raid has offered a treasure of intelligence about the gang, detailing its recent outreach efforts in neighboring countries, most notably - no surprise here - Venezuela. The disc reportedly revealed financial links with Chávez's government, including negotiations for a $750 million loan to buy arms.

If true, these revelations show Chávez to be far worse than a cheerleader for the gang. Until now, the flamboyant Venezuelan president's efforts had been seen as primarily rhetorical. He has lobbied for the gang to be seen as a legitimate rebel movement. After the FARC's number-two man was killed, he praised Devia as a "true revolutionary." His on-again, off-again role as an intermediary between the FARC and the government actually helped free several hostages, and for a time, it appeared that the benefits of his meddling might outweigh the mischief. Even Uribe gave a measure of grudging cooperation.

But if Venezuela is also arming and subsidizing the FARC, the mischief has turned serious and criminal.

Chávez has denounced the Devia computer files as a fabrication, but as more and more of the revelations are made public, its existence will get harder to dismiss. That mother lode of information is one of the reasons the FARC is now reeling. Information on the disc has led authorities in Bogotá to 66 pounds of buried uranium, and Costa Rican police to $480,000 in FARC funds stashed at the home of a retired university professor in San Jose. Both the uranium and the money were real.

Definitely real is the misery the FARC has caused many thousands of families over the years, most of them Colombian. Betancourt, the most famous of its hostages, was kidnapped in the middle of a spirited campaign for president in 2002. A former Colombian senator, she had naively persisted in efforts to negotiate a peaceful reconciliation with the FARC after Pastrana's generous initiative collapsed. For her pains, she was taken hostage. She has been a captive ever since.

The gang has called off negotiations for Betancourt's release, blaming the Colombian government. Acknowledging Betancourt's increasingly frail condition, the FARC's septuagenarian leader Manuel Marulanda said that, unless Uribe's administration capitulated to his demands, it would "be responsible for the death of this woman."

In the eyes of a dwindling few, this is what passes for a noble revolution.

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Mark Bowden is a former staff writer at The Inquirer and is now national correspondent for the Atlantic magazine. Contact him at mbowden at phillynews.com.

By sloopskipper on Apr 6, 2008, 10:53 in Politics & the war.

Portena says on Apr 6, 2008, 17:16:

I think there are still a few guerillas in those mountains around Bogota. I'm glad they haven't bothered Bill Turley.

I feel better! I can smile at it now, I feel better. Ohhhh, better! Gnarls Barkley

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sloopskipper says on Apr 6, 2008, 18:13:

Of course, he seems quite a civilized gent!

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Robert Jorge says on Apr 7, 2008, 07:02:

It wasn't too long ago when the FARC came down the mountain in south Bogota and planted explosives and shot improvised munitions (gas cylinders) over the walls of the Picata(sp?) prison. I think their intention was to try and bust out their buddies.

--"I believe in making the world safe for our children. But not for our children's children, because I don't think that children should be having sex." - Jack Handy

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Portena says on Apr 7, 2008, 08:17:

When was that, RJ?

I feel better! I can smile at it now, I feel better. Ohhhh, better! Gnarls Barkley

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Robert Jorge says on Apr 8, 2008, 06:32:

I'll ask the Mrs. She lived in Bogota at the time, so it must have been before 2002. My guess is the late '90s. She has cousins in barrio portal, and they saw and heard what happened. I assume it made the news, but it could have been 10 years ago.

--"I believe in making the world safe for our children. But not for our children's children, because I don't think that children should be having sex." - Jack Handy

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b bruce says on Apr 8, 2008, 19:10:

This is a very sad story. If the FARC are ignorant enough to let this innocent woman die it will be the final nail in their stinking jungle coffin. They will have lost what little support that they have left. I cannot believe that Uncle Hugo has not paid big cash to get her handed over. It would be a feather in his Communista cap! But I think he has distanced himself from the FARC since the raid in Ecuador. I'm sure he knows that the Signals Intellegence boys are picking up every radio signal along the Colombian and Venezuelan border. Let's just pray Ingrid can hold on a little longer.

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Mr. Hollywood says on Apr 8, 2008, 19:38:

Nice piece.

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eywed says on Apr 9, 2008, 02:13:

It does not really matter so much who there holding to me. One person held aginst their will is one too many no matter who they are. Buggs me that people view one person as a more important person than another ( I understand why, but it buggs me none the less). I say kick the dogs while there down. List Chavez a terrosist and cut him off at the knees and let his countrymen do the rest. The world seems to be behind Colombia , Let them take back their country and show the world what a great place i know it can be.

Ay Hombe!!!!!

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