Word: farces
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...contrast, as the army hammers rebel positions, many of the FARC deserters say they were desperate to get out. "Every day it's one or two deaths in combat or five or six deaths in a bombing," says a 21-year-old former rebel explosives expert who goes by the nom de guerre Visages. "Many rebels decide that they better get out before it happens to them...
...Even FARC higher-ups are throwing in the towel. Perhaps the most high-profile deserter was Elda Mosquera, a one-eyed female comandante better known as Karina, who led a series of devastating guerrilla attacks in the late 1990s. Hemmed in by soldiers last year, Karina cut a deal for herself and her rebel boyfriend. Now she appears on armed forces radio to urge her former comrades-in-arms to give up. "For us, it's much better for these terrorists to turn in their weapons than to die on the battlefield," says General Miguel Pérez, commander...
...exodus has produced a virtuous circle for the army. Deserters often provide key intelligence for army operations, and as the military strikes more blows against the FARC, more guerrillas lose their will to fight. Last year, an army raid that killed FARC spokesman and No. 3 leader Raúl Reyes was based on information provided by a rebel turncoat. A few days later, the bodyguard of Iván Ríos, a member of the FARC's ruling secretariat, pulled off a mafia-style hit job. He executed his boss with a shot to the forehead...
Visages, the rebel explosives expert, says he initially swallowed the FARC's rhetoric about Marxist revolution and social justice. But after joining, he watched as firing squads gunned down rebels who were unfairly accused of spying for the army. He says the final straw came when the guerrillas forced his pregnant rebel girlfriend to get an abortion. Visages wore civilian clothes and operated in towns, so it was easy for him to get out. When the FARC sent him to collect an extortion payment from a cattle rancher, Visages turned himself in at an army checkpoint. But for uniformed rebels...
...write to his family. Wearing a T-shirt, jeans and crew-cut hair, the soft-spoken former rebel doesn't look or sound especially lethal as he sits on his bunk inside a well-guarded tent and composes letters to his girlfriend, who is still involved with the FARC. But some of the troops around him can barely contain their rage, because Visages admitted to setting off a car bomb last year that killed two soldiers and badly wounded three others. However, the good treatment pays off when Visages is questioned about his rebel activities. Eager to cooperate, he quickly...