FARC the next Al Qaeda?

There have been some interesting developments down south lately, starting with Columbia killing a FARC rebel, and Venezuela and Ecuador cutting off diplomatic relations with Columbia.

Chavez has links to Iran and FARC. It makes me wonder if Chavez is cooking something up with Iran to turn FARC into a major terrorist organization.

SIMON TRINIDAD is the nom de guerre of Ricardo Palmera, a high-ranking terrorist of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), the deadliest and largest terrorist organization in the world. Thanks to Colombia's president, Alvaro Uribe, Trinidad was extradited to the United States last month. He now awaits trial for a lengthy list of crimes involving the recent kidnapping and murder of American citizens in Colombia. Trinidad's capture was a victory in the fight against global terror (see Note, below), but it is unlikely that the FARC terrorists will be defeated as long as Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez continues to use his government to harbor, equip, and protect them.

Since assuming the presidency of Venezuela in 1999, Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Chavez has often sympathized with global terrorism. Not only has he proclaimed his "brotherhood" with Saddam Hussein and bestowed kind words on the Taliban, but he also maintains close economic and diplomatic ties with the leaders of Iran and Libya. Moreover, President Chavez is increasingly identified with the FARC terrorists. Although the full extent of Chavez's involvement with FARC is unknown, he has been accused of everything from sympathizing with the group to providing it with weapons and monetary support. The allegations against Chavez are numerous and it is likely that some of them are either exaggerated or untrue. Even so, President Chavez's activities reveal a consistent pattern of sympathy for terrorists.

The FARC terrorist group has been fighting the democratic government of Colombia for almost 40 years. Founded as the
armed wing of the Colombian Communist party, this 16,000-strong terrorist force recruits children and funds its activities with billions of dollars collected as taxes on the coc aine trade. The group's explicit objective is to take Colombia by force. In pursuing its mission, FARC terrorists have kidnapped, extorted, and executed thousands of innocent civilians, bombed buildings, assassinated hundreds of political leaders, and, with two other local terrorist organizations, have turned Colombia into one of the most violent and dangerous countries in the world. All in all, FARC has caused the deaths of more than 100,000 people.

www.weeklystandard.com...

In addition, FARC is supposedly hunting for Uranium.



news.yahoo.com...;_ylt=AnrmJcCKG8nvL6vWcJnTEWas0NUE

Bush and Co have certainly been mixing it up with Iran, and the UN recently passed additional sanctions because Iran refused to stop uranium production.



news.yahoo.com...;_ylt=AiYlFz2cNRRaF3DhZ8BhzXys0NUE

So I wonder if maybe Iran and their pal Chavez might be planning to turn FARC into a Hezbollah style terrorist organization a little closer to home and with folks that could easily slip across the southern US border...

Since Russia is in deep with Chavez as well, this could be another proxy war brewing.

chavez is a good man in comparison with the likes of george bush and his administration. he helps poor ppl in his country. he doesn't sympathize with terrorists. iran is not a terrorist country just because washington says so. the rest of the world says otherwise.

lol another non-verifiable story of seizure of intelligence from the likes of the weeklystandard...more propaganda.

there is no war on terror...

reply to post by Freakaloin


Iran backs Hezbollah. That fits most folks' definition of terrorist.

I don't know if there's anything funky in what's going on down south, but I know that if I were planning strategy for Russia and/or Iran and I wanted to make a hit on the US, FARC is a logical organization to use.

reply to post by AWingAndASigh


FARC are a left wing semi-communist group that have been fighting the US backed and financed 'government' of Columbia for something like 40 years. They set up autonomous regions for peasant farmers to live. The Columbian and US governments have been trying to demonize them for decades

Terror? Maybe ask the relatives of all the beheaded farmers who were murdered by right wing vigilante groups run by the Columbian army and police. They have a cute habit of lining up the decapitated heads along the sides of rural roads as a warning to other peasants.

Yep, real nice bunch.

I wouldn't take anything a Columbian general says about FARC with anything more than complete and utter scepticism.

J.

reply to post by jimbo999


I take your point. And there are certainly plenty of things our government has done that doesn't bear close scrutiny, especially lately.

However, if one were inclined to engage in a proxy war...

Something is definatly up down south. What it means -well, heck. I don't really know. I just know it adds to the overall global tensions among the major players of the world.

There's certainly accusations being hurled back and forth.


www.iht.com...

reply to post by AWingAndASigh


hezbollah is not a terrorist organization. again, just because the us or israeli govt's says so doesn't make it reality. the rest of the world besides them doesn't think they are...

Honestly while I have little use for FARC or Chavez, I would be extremely skeptical of any claims or "evidence" coming from the Colombians, who are the US's only remaining proxy in the region.

The US isn't happy about recent political gains by the left in South America.
And the US has a long track record of interference in the region.

Originally posted by Freakaloin
chavez is a good man in comparison with the likes of george bush and his administration.....

While still an Army officer, Chavez was a key member in an attempted coup in the early 1990s.

He was only detained briefly, and suffered no ill-effects.

I would have supposed that someone who had previously attempted to overthrow the legitimately elected leadership of his nation might be denied the opportunity to later participate in the democratic process, but it would appear that is not an issue in Venezuela.

And I quote from another of my posts:

His close engagement with the felonious leadership of the FARC and ELN have shown his true colors yet again.

Another corrupt leader who diverts attention away from serious internal problems by tilting at windmills and issuing empty rhetoric.

and yet he is a good man compared to bush and company... he helps the poor and his ppl love him...minus the elites and american lovers...

The C.I.A. tried to establish ties to F.A.R.C. way back, they suggested that F.A.R.C. should invest money made from coc aine production into the U.S. stock market. F.A.R.C. declined, as they preferred to use the funds to help Colombia's poor.

The idea that F.A.R.C. could be labeled as a global terrorist organization is preposterous, they are merely concerned with the social conditions in Colombia.

en.wikipedia.org...

If Al Qaeda of any sort, a Christian one according to the fragrance of such a "Trinidad".

Thick fog in Neo-Cons' glasses. Not to mention Liberation Theology.

Originally posted by jerico65

Originally posted by Freakaloin
chavez is a good man in comparison with the likes of george bush and his administration.....

While still an Army officer, Chavez was a key member in an attempted coup in the early 1990s.

He was only detained briefly, and suffered no ill-effects.

I would have supposed that someone who had previously attempted to overthrow the legitimately elected leadership of his nation might be denied the opportunity to later participate in the democratic process, but it would appear that is not an issue in Venezuela.

what about the US financed coup that attempted to over throw Chavez after he was democratically elected?

reply to post by tarichar


They've been doing that a lot lately. They tried it with the Palestinians when Hamas got elected, too.

I guess GWB didn't really mean it when he said democracy is the answer to the world's problems.

when bush talks of democracy he really means opening countries up to multinational corporations so they can pillage theml...

Quick update.....

Venezuela troops head to Colombia border

CARACAS, Venezuela - Hundreds of Venezuelan troops deployed for the Colombian border on Tuesday under orders from President Hugo Chavez, who is sending about 9,000 soldiers to the frontier.
Hundreds of troops were seen boarding four buses and eight trucks at the Paramaracay base in the central city of Valencia on Tuesday morning, headed for the border. Their convoy also included fuel trucks and cranes. A helicopter flew overhead.

Venezuela troops head to Colombia border

Getting hotter! This could be the war for S. America.

My $.02

Cuhail

New developments

BBC News - news.bbc.co.uk...

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe says he will ask the International Criminal Court to bring genocide charges against President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

...

Latin American powers including Chile, Mexico and Brazil have offered to mediate in the dispute. An emergency meeting of the Organization of American States is being held to discuss the crisis.

Genocide charges? Plutonium? $300 million dollars? Something is rotten in Bogotá.

Originally posted by wingman77
The C.I.A. tried to establish ties to F.A.R.C. way back, they suggested that F.A.R.C. should invest money made from coc aine production into the U.S. stock market. F.A.R.C. declined, as they preferred to use the funds to help Colombia's poor.

The idea that F.A.R.C. could be labeled as a global terrorist organization is preposterous, they are merely concerned with the social conditions in Colombia.

en.wikipedia.org...

This kind of statement make me sick. Farc helping poor colombians, please don´t make laugh. Have you ever been to Colombia?, have you ever been to rural Colombia?.

Are you not aware of the thousends of kidnappings and assasinations made by the FARC????. Are you not aware that they are the biggest drug cartel in the world?. Are you not aware that have planted Colombia with landmines prohibited by the Geneva Convention?. Are you not aware that they use car bombs to kill as many civilians as possible?. Are you not aware that more than half of their force consists of minors, and that women in the FARC are used as sex slaves and forced to abort any children that they might bare?. Are you not aware that the leaders of the FARC are amongst the richest and most powerful men in the region?.

I could go on, and on and on.

My brother was kidnapped in Colombia, and my aunt was killed in a terrorist bomb attack at Nogal Club in Bogotá.

Shame on you!

[edit on 4-3-2008 by Camilo1]

[edit on 4-3-2008 by Camilo1]

[edit on 4-3-2008 by Camilo1]

Are you not aware of the thousends of kidnappings and assasinations made by the FARC????. Are you not aware that they are the biggest drug cartel in the world?. Are you not aware that have planted Colombia with landmines prohibited by the Geneva Convention?. Are you not aware that they use car bombs to kill as many civilians as possible?. Are you not aware that more than half of their force consists of minors, and that women in the FARC are used as sex slaves and forced to abort any children that they might bare?. Are you not aware that the leaders of the FARC are amongst the richest and most powerful men in the region?.

I should have clarified. I am not a supporter of F.A.R.C., anybody that gains from the suffering of others is deplorable. What I meant was that F.A.R.C. appears to be interested in Colombia and Colombia only and the idea that they would build a dirty bomb was not logical. They could not benefit from such an act as building a dirty bomb, it would only cause an international crack down.

It's a shame that the poor have entered a symbiotic relationship with F.A.R.C., they should rather strike out on their own to take out their corrupt government.

Damn Spanish, bringing the virus of civilization to the Americas.

Yeah I would be careful about lionizing the FARC - they're little more than a criminal gang at this point. Once they probably did see themselves as defending Colombia's poor, but now? Don't kid yourself.

As much as I oppose US foreign policy, just because someone is a US adversary does not make them "the good guys"... FARC lost any shred of legitimacy they may have had when they started slaughtering and kidnapping civilians.

reply to post by xmotex


The ends justifies the means comes to mind. You know the part where kidnapping in the name of funding (aka ransom) your organization since you don't want to clean up the garbage for a few pesos an hour. Not to mention drugs.