[Cincinatus' Wife]

I dare say, FARC is responsible for most of them.

FARC: Dropout candidates running from death threats as election nears*** So many people were forced under threat of death to drop out that for the first time there are cities around the nation with no candidates at all.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia may be getting beaten on the battlefield, but the 17,000-strong leftist insurgency known as the FARC has proven once again that it is capable of something perhaps more serious: creating a power vacuum in largely rural areas far from the federal government's reach.

''This is worse for democracy,'' Benítez said. 'They are in a hurry to show their power, to say, `There won't be elections here.' And they've done it.''

From 1998 to 2000, Benítez was the mayor of Támara, a town of 9,000 people in the northeastern state of Casanare. At the townspeople's urging, he signed up to run again. At a recent campaign event, he was summoned to see Commander Antonio, a regional leader of the FARC.

Surrounded by five armed men dressed in camouflage, Antonio politely but firmly told Benítez to withdraw from the race. Benítez did. ''It was an order. I thought, `Well, if it's like that, I'm leaving,'' he said Tuesday over coffee in the nation's capital, where he fled. ''I don't need this.'' Concerned over why the other candidate was not forced to quit, more than 100 people, including the police lieutenant, urged Benítez to reconsider in the past week. They told him he couldn't ``leave the town to the bandits.''***

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[Arthur Wildfire! March]

GW had General Clark planning some kind of action in Colombia prior to 9-11 if I recall correctly. This is sick. And BTW, this could be OUR future if we give in to Islamic extremists or the flood of illegal alians. Mexican nationals with dual citizenship could do the same thing in southern California. Islamic extremists could declare fatwa on whatever politicians oppose their demands.

[Stultis]

I don't know what the answer is exactly, but this campaign of killing candidates cries out for a hardball response. Maybe Uribe should ask the legislature for emergency powers to appoint office holders in any case where a candidate has been killed or compelled to withdraw by threats. Then make the appointees, or some anyway, military officers. IOW a soft variety of martial law.

It's sad, really. If Uribe wins this fight his only thanks will be to be pilloried a decade hence by the "human rights" crowd. Witness Fujimori in Peru. In that case softness and moral ambiguity has even emboldened the Shining Path to the point of creating a resurgence.