Word: farcing
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When a Colombian as rich and powerful as President Andres Pastrana spends a night in the tiny town of Los Pozos as a guest of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), it's usually because he's been kidnapped. But while Pastrana chose to stay overnight of his own free will Thursday, he is indeed captive to a political dilemma few would wish on their worst enemies. The president began a second day of talks Friday with Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda, the 72-year-old leader of the 17,000-strong Maoist guerrilla army that controls almost half...
...Although the government has 30,000 men under arms, it's generally agreed that they're no match for FARC's better-armed and more mobile guerrillas - and that remains true even though the U.S. has begun funneling aid to the government forces as part of its war on drugs. The reason for the imbalance, in part, is that the FARC is estimated to earn some $700 million a year from selling protection to the narcotics industry in zones under its control - and that, together with their supplementary income from the hundreds of kidnappings they undertake each year, makes them...
...number of massacres. Moreover, it is widely agreed that no side of the long-running civil war is free of associations with the drug lords. Peace talks between the government and the rebels appear to have broken down, and the largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), has vowed to retaliate against the U.S. for its expanded involvement...
Lately, Castano has been turning to high-profile kidnappings to get his point across. In October his men nabbed seven national lawmakers to underscore his opposition to a proposed prisoner exchange between the government and the FARC. The hostages were freed after the Interior Minister met with Castano, but the meeting had a damaging effect: last Tuesday the FARC used it as an excuse to break off peace talks...
...Darien Gap, Castano is growing restless. He eyes his wristwatch. It's late afternoon, and he and his bodyguards are eager to resume their hunt for the retreating FARC back in the jungle. "We'll catch them by dawn," he says confidently. Given his popularity among Colombians, will Castano one day run for political office? Disgusted, he shakes his head. "With my past? With the things I've done? Never. It's a sign of how bad the situation is in Colombia that people would even think of me like that." He adds, "No, I'm just a temporary antidote...