Word: betancur
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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From the outset, the government of President Belisario Betancur Cuartas refused to negotiate. Within minutes of the takeover, Bolívar Plaza was teeming with soldiers and police. Armored cars arrived with sirens blaring. The Colombian army and paramilitary police units responded with a fury that the newspaper El Tiempo called "the most spectacular counter-guerrilla operation in contemporary times." Said one journalist who was at the scene: "It was total...
...homeless. Colombia's volcanic catastrophe seemed especially poignant in a country that has been plagued since World War II by a seemingly endless series of man-made travails: civil war, leftist terrorism and battles with a powerful and entrenched drug mafia. Said Colombian President Belisario Betancur Cuartas as he personally directed rescue operations last week: "Time and time again we are visited by tragedy. But with the help of God we will overcome...
...eruption came at a particularly bad time for Betancur. In the days before the disaster, he had been under heavy political attack for his Nov. 6 decision to send army troops against M-19 guerrillas who had taken over Bogotá's Palace of Justice. The spectacular and bloody assault horrified television viewers around the world and left nearly 100 dead, including eleven Colombian Supreme Court Justices...