Colombia Bombs Rebel Territory

yahoo.com ^ | Feb 21, 2002, 9:35 AM ET | ANDREW SELSKY

[Cincinatus' Wife]

FLORENCIA, Colombia (AP) - Colombian warplanes began bombing a vast rebel territory Thursday and amassing troops nearby, following the president's decision to cancel peace talks and reclaim the region from leftist guerrillas, the military reported.

President Andres Pastrana formally ended Colombia's three-year peace process Wednesday night, just hours after guerrillas hijacked a domestic airliner and kidnapped a senator on the flight. Pastrana set a midnight deadline for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to abandon the zone in southern Colombia that he gave to the rebel group in 1998.

Troops in camouflage uniforms tightly guarded a highway Thursday morning leading from the southern city of Florencia to the rebel zone, about a three-hour drive to the west. They said they were awaiting possible orders to move into the guerrilla area.

Corp. Carlos Vanegas, carrying an assault rifle, said he was feeling "very good" about the decision to retake the zone from the FARC. "We should have done this a long time ago. All they were doing is getter stronger inside their safe haven," he added.

The army's second-in-command, Gen. Euclides Sanchez, said a "large-scale" and potentially bloody operation was under way to recapture the zone, involving the army, air force and marines.

"It's dicey, and we will surely suffer casualties, but we have a moral obligation to win this war," he told local Caracol Radio.

The United States has been providing training, equipment and intelligence support to special Colombian army counternarcotics units. But Sanchez said there was no U.S. role whatsoever in Thursday's offensive against the FARC.

Military warplanes and helicopters bombed "85 strategic points within the zone" overnight and the operation was continuing, armed forces spokeswoman Consuelo Garcia told The Associated Press.

The rebel haven is sparsely populated, with about 100,000 residents spread out in five counties over an area the size of Switzerland.

Television reporters inside the guerrilla territory said the rebels had largely disappeared from view. Broadcast footage showed many residents leaving the area. Phone lines to the site of the talks, which had been held in the zone, were cut shortly after Pastrana's announcement.

There were no official reports yet of ground clashes or troops entering the rebel area.

However, there were clear signs of a troop buildup. Three planeloads of counterinsurgency troops were seen setting down Thursday morning at Florencia's airport.

Just before dawn, reporters interviewed a fighter pilot who said he had just returned from a bombing mission. The air force pilot, who was not identified, said he was prepared to continue bombing the zone as long as was necessary, according to a broadcast on RCN television.

The military was reportedly bombing rebel installations, from camps to warehouses to clandestine airstrips.

Col. Nelson Rocha, the head of an army engineer's battalion based on the road to the safe haven, said he was preparing to move heavy equipment into the area to destroy guerrilla airstrips.

Nestor Ramirez, the mayor of the largest town inside the safe haven, San Vicente del Caguan, said residents there are fearing they could be trapped in fighting.

"Naturally there is fear because the news caught everyone by surprise," the mayor said. "The people have been nervous for some time about the future of the peace process."

Colombia's civil war pits the FARC and a smaller rebel group against government troops and an outlawed paramilitary militia. Roughly 3,500 people, most of them civilians, die every year in the fighting.

The U.S. government has labeled the FARC a terrorist organization, leaving open the possibility it may later provide direct counterinsurgency aid. The Bush administration has asked Congress to authorize $98 million to train and arm a Colombian army brigade to protect a vital oil pipeline from rebel attacks.

Pastrana's announcement was greeted enthusiastically in Bogota, where drivers honked their horns to show their approval.

"This peace process didn't make sense because of the actions of the guerrillas," said Jaime Tapia, a shopkeeper. "It doesn't matter if there is a war. We are already at war."

The president's decision came shortly after four rebels dressed in civilian clothes and armed with handguns forced an Aires airlines flight to land in southern Colombia.

Camouflage-clad rebels met the plane on a two-lane highway near the town of Hobo and whisked away the hijackers and Sen. Jorge Gechen Turbay, 50, president of the Colombian Senate's peace commission. The remaining 29 passengers and crew were freed unharmed.

The highly organized hijacking infuriated a nation already fed up with peace talks that have done little to bring an end to Colombia's 38-year-old civil war. It also appeared to be the last straw for Pastrana.

"It's not possible to sign agreements on one side while putting guns to the heads of innocent people on the other," Pastrana said.

Pastrana, who had staked his presidency on bringing an end to Colombia's war, insisted that the three-year effort toward making peace with the FARC had not been wasted. He said the military was stronger than it had ever been. And he said the process was proof that the FARC could not negotiate in good faith.

"Today, the guerrillas have been unmasked and have shown their true face, the face of senseless violence," he said.

Halfway through his speech, Pastrana showed video clips of destruction attributed to the rebels: bridges that had been blown up, a homemade bomb in a church, buildings destroyed by explosions, a child's body lying under a sheet. Then he showed aerial photographs of airstrips and highways, which he said the FARC had built inside the government-granted territory to further their drug trafficking activities.

Gechen Turbay, the senator who was kidnapped in the hijacking, is a member of a prominent political clan that has seen several of its members killed and kidnapped by the FARC. Four other members of Congress are also being held by the rebels.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

(February 21, 2002)-Houston Chronicle- "FARC has opted for terrorism" Colombian president breaks off talks with rebels

Colombian President Ends Peace Talks After Hijacking, Military Begins Bombing Rebel Territory

[mad puppy]

The time has come, and its about time.

No more negotiations, not more peace talks. A terrorist is a terrorist and they won't stop til we are dead.

Oh, this was in Colombia? We should watch closely as perhaps we'll learn what it means to really take the gloves off.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

A terrorist is a terrorist and they won't stop til we are dead.

Bump!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Chavez: Colombian Rebel Contact 'Humanitarian'-denies collaborating with FARC

FARC Rebel planned to assassinate Colombia Pres. Pastrana, says Venezuela Pres "Chavez 'Trusted' Him"-- BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - A leftist rebel accused of plotting the assassination of Colombia's president said Thursday night that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ``trusted'' him completely. Diego Serna, a confessed member of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, stunned the nation when he appeared in a video next to Chavez - pulling out his chair, handing him a glass of water - during a state visit in May.

[livius]

Good! If they'd waited much longer, they wouldn't have had a country left.

I also think that this wouldn't have happened quite so dramatically if they hadn't gotten some at least tacit encouragement from the U.S. I hope our pathetic non-policies of the last 8 years in dealing with Latin America are about to undergo a radical change.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I hope our pathetic non-policies of the last 8 years in dealing with Latin America are about to undergo a radical change.

Thank goodness President George W. Bush went over Sen. Christopher Dodd's attempt to Stop Otto Reich didn't work.

Sen. Dodd's petulance threatens national security

[hchutch]

You know, we may need to do a 187 on Chavez before he gets any worse...

[hchutch]

Carlos Castano was saying this for years before Pastrana got on board....

[Cincinatus' Wife]

do a 187

?---I expect it isn't nice.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Residents light candles during a vigil to condemn terrorism in Neiva, 149 miles (240 kilometers) southwest of Bogota, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2002. An airliner departing from Neiva was hijacked by rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, Wednesday. Thousands of people throughout Colombia lit candles for three minutes to condemn terrorism. (AP Photo/Scott Dalton)

High school students light candles during a vigil to condemn terrorism at Bogota's main square, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2002. Thousands of people throughout Colombia lit candles for three minutes to condemn terrorism. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

[hchutch]

187 is rap talk for homicide. We whack the creep. CIA's restriction on that seems to have been shelved for the duration...

Almost enough for me to do a sack dance on the grave of Frank Church...

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Almost enough for me to do a sack dance on the grave of Frank Church...

?--I guess he's one of the bad guys.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[hchutch]

Church ran the hearings that led to the gutting of the CIA.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Good for him. More Americans should become involved in our national security, which includes free flowing oil.
With FARC attacking the pipeline, it was in our interest to try to end FARC's Marxist aggression.
But it's clear now the FARC terrorists had no intention of stopping their tactics.

NYSE bio [Excerpt] Dick Grasso, 55, has been chairman and chief executive officer of the New York Stock Exchange since June 1, 1995. Since 1988, he had been president and chief operating officer. While continuing in those positions, he became executive vice chairman of the Exchange on Jan. 1, 1991. He is the first member of the NYSE's management to be elected to any of these positions in the NYSE's 209-year history.

Mr. Grasso joined the Exchange in 1968. In 1973, Mr. Grasso became director of listings and marketing, in charge of adding qualified prospects to the NYSE's list of companies. In December 1977, he was promoted to vice president, corporate services, and in November 1981, he was appointed senior vice president, corporate services, with the added responsibility for liaison, coordination and support for all NYSE-listed companies. Mr. Grasso became executive vice president, marketing group, in 1983 and then executive vice president, capital markets, in May 1986, with responsibility for all financial products and the market data group. [End Excerpt]

[hchutch]

All we have to do now is to remove the AUC from the bad list, and we will be in good shape in Colombia.

Carlos Castano's the guy I'd be backing if I were in charge of things in DC.