Word: farce
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...message-laden music is part of an army propaganda blitz that includes radio spots, billboards and leaflets dropped by helicopter. Guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - the nation's largest rebel group, known as the FARC - are told that by turning themselves in, their sins will be forgiven and they can start anew. The campaign is one of the pillars of a broader U.S.-backed military offensive that has driven the FARC out of the most important areas of Colombia and cut the size of the rebel army in half. Since President Alvaro Uribe was first elected...
That hasn't always been the case on the other side. Since 2003, about 30,000 right-wing paramilitary fighters who battled the FARC have disarmed. But the bulk of the paramilitaries were ordered by their commanders to lay down their weapons en masse as part of a peace process with the Bogotá government. Some did so only grudgingly and have since formed new militias that are dedicated to drug-trafficking. "If they haven't changed or don't want to change, it's much easier for these fighters to fall back into their former lifestyle," says Mariana...
...Barofsky worked as a lawyer in private practice until taking a pay cut and joining the U.S. District Attorney's office (Southern District of New York) in 2000 where he prosecuted some of the world's most notorious drug traffickers, including some 50 ranking members of FARC, the Colombian guerrilla group. Eventually he headed the mortgage-fraud group that investigated everything from retail mortgage fraud to securities fraud...
...take on the FARC. I'm sure he can handle a few Wall Street bankers while making sure that the taxpayer money is being spent wisely and legally." - Democratic Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York on Barofsky's confirmation. (Politico.com, December...
...they are behaving like the FARC, what lessons are there from Colombia that can be applied in Afghanistan? A lot of people say to me that the last thing we want to do is get involved in another messy drug war, and I always say, "Too late." The biggest challenge is corruption, because as much money as the insurgents are earning off the drug trade, corrupt officials in Afghanistan and Pakistan are earning even more. It's going to be very complex for the U.S. and for the international community, for NATO, to find reliable and trustworthy partners to work...