Word: farce
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...peace is so elusive that war is the only viable option. This controversial idea holds little water when war is a potentially viable solution, but none at all if the conflict is not a winnable one. The government of Colombia is simply not in a military position to crush FARC, and even if it were, in so doing it would leave a power vacuum that AUC would gladly fill. As Lee points out, the government handed FARC a huge swath of land in the middle of Colombia, and FARC’s forces are by no means inconsiderable?...
Just sometimes, though, there is no alternative to a military solution. FARC, the largest group with 17,000 fighters, has no interest in participating in a pluralistic society. FARC is a pseudo-Marxist revolutionary group (is there any other kind?) that has about as much to do with liberalism as al-Qaeda has to do with Islam. The right wing AUC, which developed in response to the government’s failure to provide security, has been known to extinguish whole villages in its reactionary zeal. Both would rather traffic in drugs than in ideas...
...enough resistance to appreciably wear down the rebels. Whenever the guerillas need a few years to rest and acquire fresh recruits and better weapons, they need only agree to a cease-fire and receive the laurels of the international community for reviving the peace process. Until FARC and AUC leaders are in danger of dying from something other than natural causes, they have no reason...
Colombia gave peace a chance. In 1999 the government effectively ceded the FARC a territory the size of Switzerland as a condition for negotiations. Until this year, when the government retook nominal control, this supposedly demilitarized zone had provided the guerillas a safe haven to train, improve their equipment and learn tactics from Irish Republican Army veterans. The guerillas took less interest in the peace talks, always demanding more concessions for the privilege of their company...
...ensure safety in the capital Bogotá, as at least 17 civilians were killed and nearly 60 people were wounded in explosions minutes before Alvaro Uribe was sworn in as Colombia's new President. No group claimed responsibility, but several factors pointed to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (farc): the deadliness of the strike within 800 m of the presidential palace, the use of homemade mortars and an earlier pledge by Uribe to get tough on the Marxist guerrilla group. "Expect action every day, but not miraculous results," said Uribe...