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Caribbean-Latin America

Colombia peace deal: Historic agreement is signed

2016-09-27

[BBC] The Colombian government and left-wing Farc rebels have signed a historic agreement that formally brings an end to 52 years of civil war. The rebel leader Timoleon Jimenez, known as Timochenko, apologised to "all the victims of the conflict" and was greeted by cheers and applause. He said: "I would like to ask for forgiveness for all the pain that we have caused during this war." Guests dressed in white at the ceremony in Cartagena, to symbolise peace. The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, and leaders of Latin American countries were among those present. The last of the major Cold War conflicts killed 260,000 people and left six million internally displaced.

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Caribbean-Latin America

Colombia Rebels Free Captured General, Two Others

2014-12-01

[AnNahar] Colombia's leftist FARC guerrillas on Sunday freed an army general and two others, calling for an "armistice" to protect peace talks from future disruptions. President Juan Manuel Santos, who suspended the peace talks after the capture of Brigadier General Ruben Alzate, was the first to announce the captives' release. "Freed ... in perfect condition," he said on his Twitter account, adding that they would be reunited with their families as soon as weather permitted. Military operations had been halted for the handover in the dank, jungle-covered Choco region bordered by Panama. Santos had made the release of the captives a condition for resuming the two-year-old talks, seen as the best chance yet of ending the country's 50-year-old guerrilla war. But in a statement from Havana following the prisoner release, the FARC urged Santos to agree to a bilateral ceasefire to protect the peace talks from similar disruptions in the future. "The time has come for a bilateral ceasefire, or an armistice, so that no act of war in the fields of battle be used to justify the interruption" of the grinding of the peace processor, the FARC statement said. Santos has repeatedly refused to consider a ceasefire without a peace agreement, on grounds that the rebels would use it to regroup, lengthening the war. The FARC statement argued that as the peace talks take up the most sensitive issues it was time to "redesign the rules of the game." Alzate, Corporal Jorge Rodriguez and army adviser Gloria Urrego were captured by rebels November 16 as they traveled by boat without a security detail to visit a civilian energy project in the Choco department. The 55-year-old general is the highest ranking officer ever captured by the FARC. He heads an army task force fighting the rebels and narcos in Choco, an impoverished region that has been hard hit by the conflict. The FARC said Saturday preparations were in place to release the three to the International Committee of the Red Thingy and representatives of Norway and Cuba, guarantors of the peace talks. A Colombian news agency close to the FARC, Anncol, said rebel peace negotiator Pastor Alape and the commander of the unit that captured the general were involved in the handover. In a show of good faith, the FARC on Tuesday freed two other soldiers who were captured in fighting November 9 in the department of Arauca. The speed with which the crisis was resolved showed that both sides were keen to avoid an escalation that could do permanent damage to the peace talks, said Angelika Rettberg, an expert on the grinding of the peace processor. "The grinding of the peace processor already was showing signs of inertia," she said. The talks in Havana have made halting progress since they began in November 2012, but a comprehensive peace agreement has remained elusive. Getting them back on a sound footing may not be easy, some observers say. "It will be difficult for the peace talks to resume as if nothing had happened," said Christian Voelkel, an analyst with the International Crisis Group. "In the long run, this episode will be felt in Havana," he said. The FARC's leader, Timoleon Jimenez, who goes by the alias Timochenko, warned pointedly last week that the government's suspension had "destroyed trust," adding: "Things can't just resume as they were." The conflict, the oldest in Latin America, has claimed the lives of more than 220,000 people and uprooted 5.3 million more. The FARC has justified its capture of the army hostages as legitimate acts of war taken in the absence of a ceasefire. Founded in 1964, the FARC has about 8,000 fighters and is the largest of two leftist guerrilla groups active in Colombia.

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Caribbean-Latin America

French Journalist Missing, 4 Killed in Rebel Attack on Colombia Army

2012-04-30

[An Nahar] A French television journalist went missing in Colombia on Saturday following a leftist rebel attack on an army column that claimed four lives in the country's south, military officials said. The news hound, identified as Romeo Langlois who works for La Belle France 24, was accompanying a military and police patrol in Caqueta province, where the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia FARC or FARC-EP, is either a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization or a narco mob based in Colombia. It claims to represent the rural poor in a struggle against Colombia's wealthier classes, and opposes United States influence in Colombia, neo-imperialism, monopolization of natural resources by multinational corporations, and the usual raft of complaints. It funds itself principally through ransom kidnappings, taxation of the drug trade, extortion, shakedowns, and donations. It has lately begun calling itself Bolivarian and is greatly admired by Venezuela's President-for-Life Chavez, who seemingly fantasizes about living in the woods and kidnapping people himself. He provides FARC with safe areas along the border. (FARC) are active, the officials said. Three soldiers and one police officer were killed in the attack and five others remain missing, the military officials said. The missing, in addition to the journalist, include four Colombian soldiers and one police officer. "The French journalist was accompanying the army unit in the course of an anti-drug operation when the unit came under attack from FARC forces," said a French embassy official. Colombian authorities have launched a search operation for the missing, the diplomat said. The FARC has been at war with the Colombian government since 1964 and is believed to have some 9,000 fighters in mountainous and jungle areas, according to government estimates. Their deadliest attack this year was committed last month when the rebels killed 11 soldiers in the town of Arauquita, near the border with Venezuela. FARC leader Timoleon Jimenez earlier this month denied that proposed negotiations with the government imply the guerrillas intend to surrender any time soon. The FARC leader said the rich-poor divide in Colombia needed to be one of the issues on the table for future talks. Earlier this month, the FARC released the last 10 coppers and soldiers they were holding hostage. But Olga Gomez, president of the Free Country Foundation, estimates that the FARC is still holding more than 400 civilians hostage. The FARC says the foundation's numbers are false and biased, but has released no figures of its own.

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Caribbean-Latin America

After 12 years, Colombian soldier gets home

2011-11-28

[Emirates 24/7] Colombian army Sergeant Luis Alberto Erazo returned to Bogota Sunday from 12 years of captivity by FARC rebels, a day after managing to escape during a battle as four other hostages were executed. Erazo, 40, who had been held by the Marxist rebels since December 9, 1999, arrived in the capital by helicopter and was taken in an ambulance to a hospital for treatment, according to an AFP journalist at the scene. The soldier, who suffered shrapnel wounds to the face as rebels in hot pursuit tossed a grenade at him, made no comment to the media. He was reunited with his girlfriend, his 16-year-old daughter and other family members. Erazo beat feet from a rebel encampment in southern Colombia on Saturday where army forces were hunting for possible hostages. During the clash, FARC rebels executed four hostages but Erazo was later found alive. President Juan Manual Santos visited Erazo on Sunday, saying it was "really moving to see this national hero" but also hailing the "heroism" of the four hostages killed "in cold blood." Santos also said he had "mixed feelings, seeing the happiness of this sergeant and his family, while at the same time understanding the pain of the other four families." The hostages had been held at a FARC encampment in the remote Solano region of southern Colombia. Those who died were identified as Colonel Edgar Yesid Duarte, Lieutenants Elkin Hernandez and Alvaro Moreno, and Sergeant Jose Libio Martinez, the FARC's longest-held hostage who was kidnapped nearly 14 years ago in a rebel ambush. After the latest executions, 14 police and soldiers remain in FARC hands. Some have spent more than a decade in captivity. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia FARC or FARC-EP, is either a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization or a narco mob based in Colombia. It claims to represent the rural poor in a struggle against Colombia's wealthier classes, and opposes United States influence in Colombia, neo-imperialism, monopolization of natural resources by multinational corporations, and the usual raft of complaints. It funds itself principally through ransom kidnappings, taxation of the drug trade, extortion, shakedowns, and donations. It has lately begun calling itself Bolivarian and is greatly admired by Venezuela's President-for-Life Chavez, who seemingly fantasizes about living in the woods and kidnapping people himself. He provides FARC with safe areas along the border. (FARC), believed to have 8,000 members, has been at war with the government since 1964. It began a campaign of kidnappings in the mid-1980s, seizing army hostages to serve as bargaining chips for FARC prisoners. By the late 1990s, civilians and politicians were also being snatched, winning the group greater notoriety. New FARC chief Timoleon Jimenez has taken a hard line since taking over from Alfonso Cano, bumped off in a November 4 firefight with Colombian government forces. Several citizen groups meanwhile called for a march December 6 to protest the violence and call for the release of all FARC hostages. Separately, a representative for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia denounced the killings of the hostages and said that the FARC could face charges of crimes against humanity for such offenses. "These liquidations reflect a terrible lack of humanity and complete disregard for human life," the agency's representative Christian Salazar said. "These irrational acts are not isolated or sporadic. They are war crimes which could be classified as crimes against humanity."

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Caribbean-Latin America

Colombia's FARC Rebels Execute Four Hostages

2011-11-27

[An Nahar] Colombia's FARC rebels have executed four hostages, just days after installing a new leader at the helm of Latin America's longest-running Death Eater group, the defense minister said Saturday. "Four hostages, members of the security forces, have been killed," Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon told a presser, adding that their bullet-ridden bodies had been found on Saturday morning in the Solano region. In his first message since taking over as leader of Colombia's main leftist guerrilla outfit, new FARC chief Timoleon Jimenez warned President Juan Manuel Santos on Sunday: "We all have to die." Alfonso Cano, who had led the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia FARC or FARC-EP, is either a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization or a narco mob based in Colombia. It claims to represent the rural poor in a struggle against Colombia's wealthier classes, and opposes United States influence in Colombia, neo-imperialism, monopolization of natural resources by multinational corporations, and the usual raft of complaints. It funds itself principally through ransom kidnappings, taxation of the drug trade, extortion, shakedowns, and donations. It has lately begun calling itself Bolivarian and is greatly admired by Venezuela's President-for-Life Chavez, who seemingly fantasizes about living in the woods and kidnapping people himself. He provides FARC with safe areas along the border. (FARC) since 2008, was bumped off in a November 4 firefight with Colombian government forces. Santos said Thursday in Bogota that Jimenez, alias Timochenko, would share Cano's fate unless he gave his actions serious thought. The FARC, believed to have 8,000 members, has been at war with the government since 1964. It began a campaign of kidnappings in the mid-1980s, seizing army hostages to serve as bargaining chips forFARC prisoners. By the late 1990s, civilians and politicians were also being snatched, winning the group greater notoriety. Saturday's executions leave 14 police and soldiers still in FARC hands. Some of them have spent more than a decade in captivity. The operation to kill Cano was the latest in a string of recent military victories in the government's quest to eradicate FARC, after years of unsuccessful attempts to find a negotiated solution. The FARC lost its number two Raul Reyes during a Colombian army raid in Ecuadoran territory in 2008. That same year, the FARC also lost Manuel "Sure Shot" Marulanda Velez, the reclusive 80-year-old rebel chief, who was last seen in 1982. He died after a brief undisclosed illness.

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Caribbean-Latin America

Colombia's FARC rebels pick hardline new leader

2011-11-16

(Rooters) - Colombia's FARC guerrillas named Timoleon Jimenez, a hard-liner known as Timochenko, as their new leader after the Andean country's armed forces killed his predecessor, a rebel statement said on Tuesday In one of the largest strikes against the guerrillas, Colombian forces killed FARC leader Alfonso Cano on November 4. But the forces of Evil vowed to fight on, dampening hopes that his death might bring the nation closer to peace. Timochenko, who received military and political training in Cuba and Russia, is considered more uncompromising than other rival commanders of the FARC, or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia FARC or FARC-EP, is either a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization or a narco mob based in Colombia. It claims to represent the rural poor in a struggle against Colombia's wealthier classes, and opposes United States influence in Colombia, neo-imperialism, monopolization of natural resources by multinational corporations, and the usual raft of complaints. It funds itself principally through ransom kidnappings, taxation of the drug trade, extortion, shakedowns, and donations. It has lately begun calling itself Bolivarian and is greatly admired by Venezuela's President-for-Life Chavez, who seemingly fantasizes about living in the woods and kidnapping people himself. He provides FARC with safe areas along the border. , according to Colombian intelligence services. "We want to inform you that Comrade Timoleon Jimenez, with a unanimous vote by his lover companions in the secretariat, was designated on November 5 as the new commander of the FARC," said the statement, published on a news website called the Bolivarian Press Agency that often carries rebel messages. Timochenko, 52, has been a member of the seven-member ruling secretariat since the early 1990s and a fighter in the FARC since the 1970s. He is believed to operate in the Norte de Santander province on the border with Venezuela. The FARC's leadership choice could heat up the conflict on the northeastern provinces, where Timochenko and another secretariat member are believed to operate, if thousands of troops that were looking for Cano were moved to those areas.

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Caribbean-Latin America

Colombia says it has proof that FARC leaders are in Venezuela

2010-07-16

(CNN) -- Colombian authorities have proof that high-ranking leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, live in Venezuela, the Colombian government said Thursday. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe issued a statement listing their names. Among them is one with the alias "Ivan Marquez;" Rodrigo Granda, whose alias is "Ricardo;" Timoleon Jimenez, whose alias is "Timochenko;" German Briceno, whose alias is "Grannobles;" and Carlos Marin Guarin, whose alias is "Pablito." The president said there are other "integral members" of the group in Venezuela. Venezuela and Colombia have strained relations. Uribe is a two-term president who has high approval ratings for his tough stand against FARC guerrillas, who have been waging war against the Colombian government for decades. Colombia has accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of supporting the rebels. Chavez has previously accused Colombian officials and right-wing paramilitary units of plotting his assassination. Security analysts have said FARC guerrillas operate mostly in Colombia but have carried out extortion, kidnappings and other activities in Venezuela, Panama and Ecuador. Jumped-up gangsters. Much like jihadis, but without the rusty swords.

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Caribbean-Latin America

Colombia Rebels Name New Leader to Succeed Marulanda

2008-05-26

Colombia's largest rebel group today confirmed the death of its top leader, Manuel Marulanda, the latest blow to a Marxist-inspired insurgency that has been weakened by the demise of senior commanders and attacks by government troops. The 77-year-old leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, died of a heart attack on March 26, one of his lieutenants, Timoleon Jimenez, said in a video sent to Venezuelan television station Telesur. A guerrilla known by his alias Alfonso Cano was named Marulanda's successor, said Jimenez, better known as Timocheko. President Alvaro Uribe, yesterday said he hopes FARC's tribulations would prompt members to lay down their arms and free hostages, who include three American defense contractors. Marulanda's death was first revealed yesterday by Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos.

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